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Court Martial Judgment

My Lords, first, I declare an interest, in that I appeared for Private Billy Nirney in this case and I am obviously very much constrained in what I can say about the facts of it. The Minister referred to the fact that it was a hostile and volatile situation for those investigating. So it was, and is, a hostile and volatile situation for any group of soldiers sent out to patrol in the Maysan province and other parts of Iraq. I hope that those who are considering future prosecutions will have that very much in mind. Further, the rules of engagement to which the Minister referred were at the material time the rules of engagement for the invasion of Iraq, which were to attack and destroy enemy combatants. There were 13 different types of enemy combatants at the time, only two of which wore uniforms. Your Lordships can appreciate the difficulties, then and now, of soldiers being sent out—under the command of and in contact with a commanding officer—into that hostile and volatile situation unable to distinguish who are combatants and who are not, whether they are militias or are under the control of some faction or another in Iraq. The weaknesses from which lessons can be drawn are these. First, it is very necessary for the investigating branch of the Military Police to be properly resourced and advised. I hope that the Government and the Attorney-General in particular will take that on board. Secondly, it is equally important to realise that future decisions of the Army Prosecuting Authority will depend on its control of the investigating branch. It is up to it to ensure that all the necessary inquiries are made. In this case, although the Minister said that an individual was dead, no inquiries were made into an exhumation of the body, there was no post mortem, no one saw that the person was actually dead. Thirdly, we look to the future to see how the investigating branches of the Military Police are to be brought together from the three services in the Bill. What steps are being taken to ensure that a fully independent and professional investigating branch is set up in future?