15 December 2016
Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) and Operation Northmoor
What these are; why they exist; and what should happen next.
by Lynda Goetz
I am not, nor ever have been, anything to do with the military. Had I been, I would have expected that putting my life on the line for my country would mean several things. Firstly, that I would get adequate (indeed preferably more than adequate) and essential training for any operation or field in which I was expected to operate; secondly, that I would be supplied with all the equipment necessary to function to the limits of my capabilities; thirdly, that I would get the support of my commanders and superiors and finally, whether in a wartime or peacekeeping role, I would get the support of my country and fair treatment in any subsequent investigations of my actions or those of fellow soldiers.
It seems that several or indeed all of those ‘criteria’ have failed to be met in a number of instances relating to our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is the first and last of these points which have come to the fore in the investigations which have been carried out against serving or retired soldiers by the IHAT and Operation Northmoor teams. IHAT was set up in 2010 by David Cameron’s coalition government in furtherance of an undertaking given by Gordon Brown’s government earlier that year. Its purpose was to investigate abuse of Iraqi citizens by British service personnel in the years from 2003 to 2009 and was expected to complete its work within two years. It is now not expected to finish its work until 2019.
From the start the investigations have been mired in controversy. The time period involved means that the allegations (which range from murder to ‘ill treatment in detention’) cover both combat situations and time spent maintaining security and training and mentoring Iraqi forces. Geoff White, a former Detective Superintendent, was the first head of the investigation, but stepped down in 2012. The current leader is retired senior civilian police detective Mark Warwick, who heads a team of 145, including Royal Navy Police (the Royal Military Police were excluded following a court of Appeal ruling in November 2011 which essentially found a conflict of interest), civilian investigators and civil servants.
According to newspaper reports,Operation Northmoor was set up quietly at the beginning of this year to investigate soldier’s actions in Afghanistan. It was recently expanded and allocated a base at RAF St. Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall and now has 124 personnel, over double the 60 Royal Military Police originally allocated to the investigations. IHAT alone has over 1,500 cases, but six years after it was set up it still has not had a single conviction. According to figures obtained by The Telegraph in September, more than 550 historic claims of abuse are now being investigated against soldiers who were in Afghanistan. The IHAT enquiries have so far cost the taxpayer some £60 million. Additional funding of £7.5 million was awarded to Operation Northmoor by the government earlier this year with the total cost expected to run into tens of millions. The £7.5 million could be used up just to fund the costs of a computer system to handle the workload.
What on earth is all this about and why is it happening? Interestingly, most of the cases have been brought by only two firms of solicitors, Leigh Day and Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). The latter is, or rather was, (it now no longer exists) a firm headed by one Phil Shiner who, following an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, is likely to be struck off (the Solicitors Roll). His firm closed down in August after being stripped of legal aid funding over alleged irregularities in its work in Iraq. PIL brought forward the majority of the cases to be considered by IHAT, and the disciplinary case against its founder, Mr Shiner, relates to his role in bringing cases against Iraq War veterans. He has admitted nine cases of ‘lack of integrity’ to the SRA including making ‘unsolicited direct approaches’ via a fixer and of making payments to that fixer (who rather curiously turns out to be the same fixer used by IHAT, a certain Abu Jamal). Many prominent people are calling for him to make a public apology to the Iraq War veterans he has pursued through the courts.
The other firm, Leigh Day, has won a reputation as Britain’s leading human rights lawyers. Led by former chairman of Greenpeace, Martyn Day, the practice also has a formidable reputation in the fields of international corporate accountability and environmental cases. However, it too was referred to the SRA over the Al-Sweady case where nine Iraqi soldiers, who claimed that the UK army had abused and tortured detainees, turned out to have told ‘deliberate lies’ and displayed ‘ingrained hostility’. Leigh Day however continues to act for a number of Iraqis and Afghans bringing cases against members of the British Armed Forces.
Hilary Meredith of Hilary Meredith Solicitors Ltd is a lawyer whose firm specialises in personal injury and military accident cases. She is acting on behalf of a number of those being investigated under IHAT. She has recently claimed that Ministry of Defence’s failure to train troops to handle Iraqi captives is a part of the problem which has led to the present situation. “It underestimated the complete lack of law and order in Iraq with no courts, police force or prisons. The military on the ground were faced with large numbers of captives with no idea what to do with them or where to put them… So whilst British service personnel knew when to shoot under rules of engagement they received no guidance on what to do when arresting, detaining or interrogating someone.” Demands to the Defence secretary for more support for soldiers and veterans being investigated include a demand for an apology for the lack of support they have received so far. Surely training and support are basics which any serving soldier of any rank should be able to depend upon? It does seem scandalous that if they have been failed in that regard they should then be subjected, years after the events in question and sometimes having already been cleared by military tribunals, to investigations by civilian investigators put in place by their own employers. What sort of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ logic is that?
Clearly it is right that the Armed Forces ‘have to be held to the highest standards’, but it surely cannot be right to be spending so much time and money pursuing our own soldiers and veterans with hostile claims from those who would, if given half a chance, have acted against them. Reading of instances, for example, where our soldiers are being accused of illegally detaining a Taliban bomb-maker, who they believed, almost certainly correctly, would have been making more bombs to use against them had they let him go free, one is hard put to see why on earth we are even entertaining such a claim.
Johnny Mercer, Conservative MP for Plymouth, is a former British Army Officer who was elected to parliament in 2015. Having served in Afghanistan he entered politics ‘with a view to improving veterans care’ and in his maiden speech described his ‘main missions’ being to improve provisions for mental health care and war veterans. He has been outspoken in his criticism of IHAT. He commented at one point that “There’s not another nation on earth that puts its soldiers through this and I find it hard to understand.”
Is this true? Are we really the only country to put our soldiers in such a position? Well, certainly the Americans wouldn’t, but then of course they, along with China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Quatar and Yemen were the seven countries who voted not to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) when it was founded in 2002. A comment by Colonel Tim Collins, the former commanding officer of the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment, is revealing. He said: “We had to show willing, to stop the ICC coming down on our heads.” He, like many others, now feels that it is time this ‘spectacular farce’ was brought to a close: “We can safely say that the depth and complexity of the lies that have been put in front of it show that it is right now to call it a day.” However, Johnny Mercer was apparently told by David Cameron that he had been advised by the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, that for legal reasons it would not be possible for IHAT to be shut down.
On Wednesday 14th December, Rachel Webster, one of the veterans subjected to questioning by the IHAT investigators and now suing the MoD for illegal arrest in 2014, joined the ranks of those calling for both IHAT and Operation Northmoor to be closed down. Through her barrister, David Taylor, she called on Theresa May to ‘put an end to this bloated, discredited and damaging witch-hunt’. Whether or not that is legally possible as things stand at present, remains to be seen; whether or not it is desirable is always arguable, but for anyone who shares the view that this is not something this country should be spending money on, there is an online petition started by relatives of those affected which can be found at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/167734
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