Written question asked by Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Astor of Hever (Conservative) on Monday, 29 November 2010.

Armed Forces: Abuse Allegations

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any of the information on reported incidents involving the treatment of civilians by United States, British or Iraqi military or police, which was compiled by the United States military and associate organisations and published online by Wikileaks, was communicated by the United States to the Ministry of Defence or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before September 2010.

Answer: We condemn any unauthorised release of classified material. This can put the lives of UK service personnel and those of our allies at risk and make the job of the Armed Forces in all theatres of operation more difficult and more dangerous. It would be inappropriate to speculate on the specific detail of these documents without further investigation. We have no knowledge that the US operational reporting recently published by Wikileaks was shared with the UK Ministry of Defence or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office before September 2010. The MoD is studying the Wikileaks material, and allegations of abuse by British soldiers will be investigated.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 3667; 722 c398-9WA
Session: 2010-12
Subjects: Disclosure of information Abuse Armed forces Civilians Iraq Peacekeeping operations USA WikiLeaks
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk