PATTON WOULD BE IN PRISON

Colonel Collins: new inquiry into how he ran regiment: Fresh claims prompt MoD to launch second investigation (Richard Norton-Taylor, May 23, 2003, The Guardian)

The Ministry of Defence is to conduct a far-reaching inquiry into the Royal Irish Regiment, the unit commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins, the officer at the centre of allegations that he seriously mistreated Iraqis in the recent war.

It emerged last night that the inquiry, though linked to a suicide of a young soldier in the regiment, will be much broader. It will investigate what the ministry described yesterday as the "military environment" which has existed within the Ist Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment under the command of Col Collins.

Defence sources made plain that it would delve into how he commanded the regiment and probe allegations of a culture of bullying.

This inquiry is entirely separate from an investigation by the military police into allegations made by a US army major that the senior British officer pistol-whipped an Iraqi civil leader - a claim the ministry suggests is an exaggeration; shot at the feet of Iraqi civilians; and shot at the tyres of vehicles when there was no threat to his soldiers.

Col Collins was feted by some of the media and praised by the Prince of Wales and President George Bush after he delivered a rousing speech to his troops on the eve of the Iraq invasion.

The commander, known for wearing sunglasses and chomping cigars, told them: "If you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory...You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest."

In the event, his regiment did not see combat, and spent most of the war protecting the Rumaila oilfields in southern Iraq and prisoners of war.

As he was defended yesterday by some of the media as a hero, a former chaplain of his regiment told the Guardian that he had made an official complaint against Col Collins alleging "unprofessional and inappropriate behaviour".

This seems almost inevitable: he's apparently suspected of establishing a "military culture" in his command. As opposed to? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 23, 2003 11:14 AM