'Disillusioned' Col Collins to quit Army in summer

The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 01/11/04 | Sean Rayment

[Pokey78]

Colonel Tim Collins, the officer who won worldwide renown for his rousing speech on the eve of the Iraq war, has dramatically quit the Army.

Col Collins, who commanded the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment during the conflict, is reported to have resigned and will leave in August because he has become disillusioned with the Army.

Although the colonel has made no official statement, his wife, Caroline, was quoted yesterday as saying: "Tim is worried that the Army is being crippled by political correctness, petty bureaucracy and the refusal of politicians who send soldiers to war to give them enough money to do their job.

"Tim is no longer convinced that the Army reflects the country with the fourth largest economy in the world. He fears it has become a cottage industry."

Mrs Collins said that an important factor in her husband's decision was the Army's failure to support him when he was wrongly accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

A friend of the colonel confirmed that he had quit. He told the Telegraph: "Tim has resigned. It is a very early stage of the long process of leaving the Army. He has put his papers in.

"It is not because he thinks the Army has gone soft. He has considered his options and decided that his future lies outside the Army.

"You have to remember that Tim won public relations communicator of the year in 2003 and is a very attractive option for a lot of large companies, who may offer him a very attractive deal.

"Every officer considers their future in their 30s, 40s and 50s and whether the appropriate time to leave the Army has arrived. Tim has decided that this is the appropriate time."

As Lt Col Collins - he was later promoted to full colonel - his inspirational address to the troops, delivered shortly before they crossed the border from Kuwait into Iraq, achieved international recognition.

He 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, for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform nor our nation."

President George W. Bush was reported to have had a copy of the speech pinned up on his wall in the Oval Office, and the Prince of Wales wrote to the officer praising it.

He returned home to face a military investigation, however, after an American officer accused him of mistreating Iraqi civilians and prisoners of war. His accuser was Major Re Biastre, a reservist with the US Army's 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion.

The major was involved in a clash with Col Collins after the American handed out sweets to Iraqi children in defiance of orders, it was said. Col Collins strenuously denied the claims that he had abused captured Iraqis, and he was later cleared by the Ministry of Defence after a full inquiry.

A separate inquiry was held into conditions in the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment after the suicide of an 18-year-old soldier, Pte Paul Cochrane, in 2001, when Col Collins was in command.

The MoD found no fault with the officer. The private's family, however, rejected the findings and have called for an independent inquiry.

Col Collins, 43, a father of five known as "Nails" to his troops, was promoted on his return from the Gulf, and has been working on Balkan issues at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham in Oxfordshire.

An MoD spokesman said: "It is not official policy to discuss the careers of Army officers."

[Pokey78]

Speech by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins – We Go To Liberate Not To Conquer

Extracts from Speech given by Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins, Ist Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, 19 March 2003

The speech was given to 800 troops at Fort Blair Mayne desert camp in Kuwait, some 20 miles south of the Iraqi border.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

“You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.

"It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.

"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.

"It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them.

“If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.

"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.

"If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.

"[Regarding the use by Saddam of chemical or biological weapons] It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.

"As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.

"Our business now is north."

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[BenR2]

Apparently, the US Army isn't the only fighting force whose senior officers leave their gutsier junior officers slowly twisting in the wind (a la Lt Col West).

[Adrastus]

This is the sort of thing that will ultimately cost the free world its professional NCO and Officer Corp. I read the speech given by Col Collins at the beginning of the war and was, as anyone would be, moved. The politically correct left cannot abide this sort of military professional on either side of the Atlantic. As I recall, the same attitude drove Pete Dawkins out of the Army some years ago and well before he peaked out.How is it that we seem to be on our way to being a country ruled by a bunch of politically correct eunuchs?

[JOE6PAK]

Col Collins, 43, a father of five known as "Nails" to his troops,

C'MON DAD...COWBOY UP!

[BenR2]

This is the sort of thing that will ultimately cost the free world its professional NCO and Officer Corp. I read the speech given by Col Collins at the beginning of the war and was, as anyone would be, moved. The politically correct left cannot abide this sort of military professional on either side of the Atlantic. As I recall, the same attitude drove Pete Dawkins out of the Army some years ago and well before he peaked out.How is it that we seem to be on our way to being a country ruled by a bunch of politically correct eunuchs?

////////////
Well put.

It is later than we think.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP

[B4Ranch]

"How is it that we seem to be on our way to being a country ruled by a bunch of politically correct eunuchs?"

Another benefit of diversity. Diversity is probably the only thing I can think of that even destroys Patriotism.

[Sir Charles]

I tend to believe his wife, in spite of the other reasonable justifications offered.

[Bonaparte]

"His accuser was Major Re Biastre..."

What the h*ll kind of name is that? French! Wouldn't you know it?

[af_vet_1981]

His accuser was Major Re Biastre, a reservist with the US Army's 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion.

The major was involved in a clash with Col Collins after the American handed out sweets to Iraqi children in defiance of orders, it was said. Col Collins strenuously denied the claims that he had abused captured Iraqis, and he was later cleared by the Ministry of Defence after a full inquiry.

Court martial the American. Promote the Brit.

[Bonaparte]

Hear hear! I'll second that!

[MDspinboyredux]

Truly a MAN among men.

We should consider ourselves fortunate to have allied with such soldiers.

I'm sorry that the same bureaucratic, PC crap that infects our military also occurs elsewhere. I think our coalition is less without people like him.

I wish him success on whereever his path leads.

[af_vet_1981]

But Major Stan Coerr, a US marines reservist who was also attached to Col Collins' unit, has called the allegations a "travesty" and claimed the accuser acted out of "spite".

Sunday newspapers named Col Collins' accuser as Major Re Biastre, a part-time serviceman from New York state, who works as a school counsellor and traffic police officer.

The pair are said to have clashed when the colonel gave Maj Biastre, 37, a lengthy dressing down for throwing lollipops to Iraqi children in contravention of orders. Col Collins reportedly said that throwing sweets, rather than distributing them via teachers, was a patronising act. The US officer is said to have taken offence at his aggressive handling of the issue.

It is also thought that Maj Biastre, a civil affairs specialist, may have objected to Col Collins' negotiations with Iraqi civil leaders, feeling that he was taking an undemocratic approach to re-establishing order in the country.

[Bonaparte]

Ah, major biasturd is coming into finer focus. Thankyou! Forget the courts martial. Strip him of his uniform, send him through the gauntlet and march him into Tikrit. Then leave. Let the locals decide what to do with this useless puppy.

[Wolverine]

For those who just love rhetorical flourishes, here's the Mother Of All Pre-Battle Speeches - courtesy, of course, of Shakespeare. Henry V - Act III, Scene I. The eve of another big battle against the French...

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off within.