BRITAIN: The role of British troops in Iraq is to be investigated by a cross-party parliamentary committee amid growing doubts about their legal status and allegations of serious human rights abuses.
The unexpected decision was announced yesterday by the British House of Commons defence committee as London civil service sources admitted that the UN resolution on the transfer of sovereignty in Iraq left unanswered key questions about the activities of foreign troops in the country.
The announcement also coincides with fresh evidence of serious maltreatment of Iraqi civilians in Basra, the centre of the British-controlled area of south-eastern Iraq.
The committee said the inquiry would focus on "the continuing responsibilities of British forces in Iraq, their status from the transfer of sovereignty on 30 June 2004 to the end of the UN mandate (31 December 2005), and the likely scale and length of the enduring commitment".
The UN resolution left unclear the issue of whether the new Iraqi government could veto US or British military operations.
While it calls on Iraqi leaders and American generals to agree on "sensitive offensive operations", it does not say what happens in the event of failure to agree.
"At the bottom line our troops will defend themselves; everything else will be discussed with the Iraqis," a British defence source said last night.
The House of Commons foreign affairs committee warned last month that the "legal obligations of troops acting under the occupying powers remain cloudy". Mr Bruce George, chairman of the defence committee, said: "Questions have of course been raised over the conduct of a small minority of coalition troops. Although we will not investigate individual allegations of abuse, an important element of our inquiry will be to examine general relations between British forces and the Iraqi civilian population."
New evidence about an incident last September allegedly involving troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment is contained in documents seen by the Guardian newspaper.
Mr Kifah Taha al-Mutari, an Iraqi civilian, was allegedly so severely beaten by British soldiers that he suffered "acute renal failure", according to classified British army medical records. The records refer to "severe beatings" and the need for "renal replacement therapy".
Mr Taha was one of nine Iraqi hotel workers arrested in Basra. One of them, Baha Mousa, subsequently died from his injuries and army prosecutors are considering manslaughter charges.
The incident was described in an International Committee of the Red Cross report which referred to allegations that the nine men were "made to kneel, face and hands against the ground, as if in a prayer position. The soldiers stamped on the back of the neck of those raising their head".
- (Guardian)