Basra in 2003

TEN days ago there was some curious briefing from the Ministry of Defence about the inquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi hotel worker, while in the custody of British soldiers in Basra in 2003. The briefing said the inquiry would make clear there had been “no policy of systematic abuse towards Iraq suspects”. The report by former judge Sir William Gage published yesterday does indeed make that point but it is much more concerned with the behaviour of British soldiers of all ranks involved in Mousa's death, something not underlined in the MoD's earlier statement. “Cowardly and violent British soldiers”, “loss of discipline and lack of moral courage”, “an appalling episode of serious gratuitous attacks on civilians and very serious breach of discipline by members of the unit “ -- just three of dozens of criticisms by Sir William Gage of the British soldiers, from the unit commander down though the ranks of officers and men, and even to the Padre who saw Mousa's condition shortly before he died but “lacked the courage” to intervene.

The report has 73 recommendations for the future, not all about brutality; some concern ignorance of senior officers about guidelines on the treatment of prisoners-of-war dating from 1972. In the House of Commons the Defence Secretary Liam Fox called the incident “deplorable, shocking and shameful”.