Tuesday, May 11, 2004

The Queen's army further exposed

Amnesty International says British troops have shot and killed dozens of civilians in Iraq who posed no apparent threat.

In all, the report examines 37 cases of allegedly questionable killings in Iraq by British troops. The director of Amnesty International U.K., Kate Allen, told British radio her group demands an independent investigation.

"We've talked to the families and we've talked to witnesses," she said. "We haven't and we weren't able to talk to soldiers and to the Royal Military Police because they refused to talk to us. Now I think that it is absolutely essential in these situations, each one of these cases is thoroughly and independently investigated."
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I watched a little of the British House of Commons proceedings on the prisoner torture issue yesterday. They do things a bit differently there. I never did figure out the rules for how any member got to talk. At any rate, Defense Secretary Hoon is a bit different than our own Rumsfiend, too. He had no problem answering any question with amazing ease, rapid fire, no hesitation and extreme confidence. Like our politicians, he often failed to actually answer the question asked, but he was never at a loss for words.

It was something more like a press conference here only with lots of standing and sitting - popping up and down like whack-a-mole. In fact, some obviously exercised members of the House were whacking, and that old mole Hoon never seemed to register a hit.