Army faces accusation of cover-up over Iraq deaths

ROYAL Military Police investigators are facing severe criticism for the way they handled a fatal shooting in Iraq in which a British tank commander and an Iraqi were killed.
A Metropolitan Police inquiry into the killings on March 24, 2003, found new witnesses, including American soldiers in the vicinity at the time.

Judge Jeff Blackett, the Judge Advocate General, who was highly critical of the Royal Military Police (RMP) during a recent court martial of seven paratroopers that collapsed through lack of evidence, said that the force was overstretched and under-resourced.

The RMP has 2,000 members but only a few hundred work for the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), which has to investigate all the incidents in Iraq and elsewhere. The deaths of Sergeant Steven Roberts, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, and Zahir Zaher, an Iraqi who had launched an assault on the 33-year-old soldier, have raised a number of disturbing questions.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is expected to make a decision next month on whether to charge colleagues of Sergeant Roberts in connection with the two deaths.

Up to two members of the same regiment opened fire in an attempt to protect the experienced non-commissioned officer from further assaults. In the ensuing gunfire Sergeant Roberts as well as Mr Zaher were killed. Sergeant Roberts was not wearing body armour because stocks of the protective gear were in short supply.

Lord Goldsmith, QC, the Attorney-General, handed the case to the CPS after doubts were raised over the RMP investigation. He also said in a letter to Geoff Hoon, then the Defence Secretary, that there had been a “concerted attempt” by military commanders to block the investigation. The CPS called in the Metropolitan Police and a new investigation began. Police sources said that the team went to Iraq and found that American soldiers had been in Az-Zubayr, southwest of Basra, at the time of the incident. Met officers travelled to the US to interview them.

The sources said that their evidence confirmed a different picture of the incident than the one portrayed by the RMP: after Mr Zaher had attacked Sergeant Roberts with a stone, the British NCO drew his pistol and fired one shot but missed, then tried again but the gun jammed. At this point his colleagues in a nearby Challenger 2 tank opened fire with a chain gun, and the Iraqi was hit, but so was the soldier. Sergeant Roberts died, but Mr Zaher, despite an appalling wound to an arm, tried to get up. Witnesses told the Metropolitan Police investigators that at least one additional shot was then fired into Mr Zaher’s body.

When the RMP began its investigation, the Iraqi’s body had been buried, in accordance with Muslim custom, so there was no post-mortem examination. However, the Metropolitan Police investigators went to see Mr Zaher’s family, who agreed to a post-mortem.

The sources said that one additional bullet wound was discovered in Mr Zaher’s chest. The post-mortem revealed that the Iraqi had not been hit in the head. The CPS must decide whether there is sufficient evidence for a charge of murder or manslaughter against up to two British soldiers.

By Michael Evans
http://www.timesonline.co.uk