Quartz
May 26, 2003, 10:40am
1
This reservist accused Colonel Collins of war crimes. Collins has been vindicated; what will happen to Biastre?
The link brought up a Telegraph web site for me, but no story.
You may need to be registered but it’s today’s opinion piece.
Had no problems with the link itself, but a link straight off Google News comes up with a “this site is busy” message.
Registration is free, here is the first part of the story.
The Army inquiry into Col Tim Collins has found no evidence that his conduct during the war in Iraq was in breach of the Geneva Conventions.
The investigation, which is continuing, is expected to conclude that if there was any misconduct by Col Collins, who commanded 1 Bn Royal Irish Regiment in southern Iraq, it was minor.
According to an Army source: “They are not investigating any war crimes or contraventions of the Geneva Conventions. At the moment, there is nothing to suggest the rules of conflict have been broken.”
The inquiry into Col Collins, 42, who was widely praised for an eve-of-battle speech in which he urged his men to be magnanimous in victory, followed a complaint by Major Re Biastre, a US army reservist.
Major Biastre, 37, a school guidance counsellor and part-time policeman, made a series of allegations in a sworn statement after a public clash with Col Collins.
He accused the colonel of maltreating prisoners, pistol-whipping a Ba’ath Party official and firing shots to stop looters and to frighten people he was questioning.
However, Major Biastre has admitted that all his claims were based on secondhand information and that he witnessed none of the alleged incidents.
Sources said some of the allegations, including the charge that he shot out the tyres of a looter’s lorry, appeared to be “rather strange”.
Much of the evidence being gathered by the Special Investigation Branch team, including statements from US personnel who served with the RIR unit, appears to support Col Collins.
The completed investigation report will be forwarded to his commanding officer and the Army prosecuting authority for a decision on whether disciplinary action is necessary.
Other papers carried a variety of reports on the incident, with some claiming that Major Re Biastre had been insolent to Lt. Col. Collins after being reprimanded for disobeying a direct order. Admittedly the order in question was “to stop giving sweets in Iraqi children”, but the justification given for the order is that Lt. Col. Collins was concerned that danger to the children would result from any local disturbances.
It has also been reported that Collins shot out the wheels of a looter trying to take away equipment - a better solution than shooting the looter.
There is a thread in Great Debates.