Posted on 05/26/2003 9:13:43 AM PDT by may18
COLONEL Tim Collins has been cleared of war crimes in a preliminary report by the army’s special investigations branch.
The British officer who became an instant hero for his rousing eve-of-battle speech before the invasion of Iraq, was accused by a reservist American soldier of mistreating Iraqi prisoners, threatening civilians and hitting an Iraqi official with a pistol.
But Major Stan Coerr, a US Marine officer in charge of a unit attached to Col Collins’ Royal Irish Regiment, has claimed the allegations were triggered by spite.
The man who levelled the accusations, part-time soldier Major Re Biastre, was involved in a clash with Col Collins after he handed out sweets to Iraqi children in defiance of orders.
Col Collins feared that Maj Biastre’s actions would cause chaos and endanger the children. He had the American soldier arrested for insubordination and demanded he should be demoted.
Major Coerr described the allegations against Col Collins as "ludicrous" and "spiteful" and said he would serve with him "anytime, anywhere". Major Stan Coerr of the US marines told the investigators he was proud to have served with Col Collins.
Major Coerr in his statement: "This is an absolute travesty. It is obvious to everyone in theatre that it is a vendetta by a weak officer against a hero. I have worked with very few officers of the calibre of Col Collins. He blended tactical knowledge with an abiding concern for the people of Iraq and it was his concern for the children of Rumaila which caused him to confront Major Biastre."
He added: "Col Collins wore us ragged because he was always out and about in town asking what villagers thought and what they needed. He was always firm but fair and his first concerns were opening the school, establishing law and order and getting the economy going with an infusion of cash which he requested from the British Government
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Our paper today featured interviews with regular US marines who said the cooperation and spirit between the uk and us troops was superb.
Looks like a one off, glad he is cleared,he was a bit of a hero for me!
That was my point earlier. I STILL think the story we're reading (via the British tabloids) just doesn't ring true. I've been insubordinate on multiple occassions - sometimes it is the only way to get a superior's attention - but I've always been back up by regulations & common sense. To be insubordinate for no reason? And then to make an accusation you know can easily be proven false - knowing you will then face the heat?
I think there is more than going on than we're reading.
Rusty Calley got off easy, too, mostly because he was an officer. If you'd had an elisted man taking the lead in that sort of thing, the Army would have hanged him in a second.
This thing isn't over yet. Collins gumbahs may think they've covered it all up, but you also had Iraqi complainants.
An Army Reserve major from Eden is at the center of a burgeoning international controversy, having accused a war-hero British officer of criminal misconduct during the conflict in Iraq.
The British press has turned on Maj. Re Biastre, questioning why he made the accusations against their freshly crowned national hero.
But Biastre's wife, co-workers and neighbors say the Lake Shore High School guidance counselor and part-time Eden police officer would not make up such accusations and is simply doing what's right.
"That's a characteristic of his personality, that if he was informed of some wrongdoing, he would bring it to someone's attention," said Debbie Biastre, who spoke to The Buffalo News on Sunday night.
Biastre, a member of the 402nd Civil Affairs Battalion attached to the British army in southern Iraq, has accused British Lt. Col. Tim Collins of brutalizing Iraqi civilians and abusing his authority during the Iraq war.
Those accusations are making headlines in Britain, where Collins has achieved near-mythic status, thanks to a blunt and eloquent speech he gave to 800 members of his brigade just before the first shots of the war were fired.
"If you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory," Collins said in the widely reported March 19 speech. His words drew praise from Prince Charles and reportedly so impressed President Bush that a framed copy of the remarks hangs in the Oval Office.
Now back home in England and awaiting the conclusion of an official investigation, Collins has denied the accusations, according to British newspaper reports.
"Ten weeks ago he was being feted as a national hero. Now Colonel Tim Collins is engulfed in a maelstrom of claims (that) threaten to destroy his career, name and character," the Sunday Telegraph of London reported.
Collins' supporters contend that Biastre is trying to get back at Collins, known as "Nails" for his toughness, because the two butted heads during the war. In fact, many British newspapers have focused their criticisms on Biastre, not Collins.
"What a way to treat a hero," cried the front page of the Daily Mirror, a British tabloid.
...
Biastre accuses Collins of pistol-whipping and shooting at the feet of Iraqi civilian leaders during interrogations, and shooting at the tires of vehicles that did not pose a threat, according to London's Daily Telegraph newspaper. Biastre did not witness the incidents firsthand but did report them to military authorities.
The Daily Telegraph quotes unnamed members of the British Ministry of Defense as saying the investigation has not turned up evidence Collins did anything wrong.
"It was a war. Tim acted robustly, but he insists he did everything by the rule book," one Collins colleague told the Daily Telegraph.
Biastre's testimony goes beyond accusations against Collins to paint a picture of British officers who opposed the war, disliked Bush and was disdainful of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, British newspapers report.
Biastre testified that British officers called Bush a "cowboy" and said Blair was Bush's "puppet," according to the Sunday Telegraph's account of Biastre's 2,390-word testimony. He said that anti-American hostility was "intense," the paper reported.
Associates of Collins say Biastre was probably trying to get revenge on Collins, who had Biastre arrested for insubordination during the war, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Collins became infuriated when Biastre continued to hand out candy to Iraqi children after the British colonel ordered a stop to that practice, according to witnesses quoted by another British newspaper, the Sun.
That does not make sense because, Debbie Biastre said, "he has nothing to gain" by reporting Collins.
R. Terrence Redman, the Lake Shore High School principal, doubts that Biastre accused Collins to pay him back for their earlier run-in. "That would surprise me greatly that he would make up or fabricate a story in order to be vindictive or bring somebody else down," Redman said.
But the principal said he can imagine Biastre - whose battalion received care packages from Lake Shore students - handing out candy or food to Iraqis. "If you're a guidance counselor, you have to have a caring, compassionate component to you," Redman said.
...
"We live day to day and try not to think about home too much but the package and card focused us on what we're doing in this country and that there are Americans behind us every step of the way," Biastre wrote in the April 20 letter.
Eden Police Chief Pat Howard, for whom Biastre worked for 11/2 years as a part-time traffic officer before leaving for active military duty in November, said Biastre respects the chain of command.
"No matter what, I feel bad for both of them. For this Col. Collins and for Re. . . . It's too bad something happened that came to this," Howard said.
...
Four British reporters have knocked on Debbie Biastre's door, she said, with one British tabloid hiring a private investigator to track her down. She said she has turned them all away.
She said she gets frustrated reading the Web sites of British tabloids, which she said are riddled with misinformation. She just hopes for a thorough British military investigation - whatever its findings.
"I think we're both very strong people, and we've been able to deal with it so far," Debbie Biastre said.
My point is not that either officer is right or wrong - I just don't think we're getting the whole story. Note - the major made his reports to military authorities - not the civilian press.
There is no good reason for Biastre to even open his mouth about "war crimes" he did not personally witness. Why would he even think about charging a superior officer with such serious crimes if he had not witnessed them? If someone else told him of these crimes, why did he not advise that person, who supposedly witnessed the acts, to report them? Why would he take it upon himself to report them and risk a serious international incident by so doing?
There is, I repeat, no good reason for Biastre to file charges against an officer for acts he himself did not witness. But there is a bad reason --- an all too human reason. Vindictiveness baby. Biastre's incredibly bad judgment makes sense only if one considers that his ego took over and he slammed Collins as a vindictive act of payback without fully realizing how badly it could boomerang on him and on the United States.
Ever hear of a "sapper"? That is when the enemy, often children, walk toward you with some sort of explosive charge on their person--when they get close to you, they blow themselves up (and you, too). This was a common problem in Vietnam, and perhaps that is what Lt Calley felt sure he was facing.
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!
In the hometown newspaper, toward end, we read: 'But the principal said he can imagine Biastre - whose battalion received care packages from Lake Shore students - handing out candy or food to Iraqis. "If you're a guidance counselor, you have to have a caring, compassionate component to you," Redman said. ' -- uh, yeah . . . and now we know how he is in regard to rules, regulations, and proper behavior
It is alleged that the Army knew the true nature of the situation far earlier but a Major named Colin Powell managed to suppress that knowledge.
Everyone in the Army at that time found their reputation tarred with this brush. Some decided this sort of thing would never happen again.
There's a wealth of information on the net about this event. You should bother to read some of it.
One of my cousins was an Arty Btry commander, and he saw some of his own men attacked at a nearby village.
Perhaps Calley was guilty of "lining up women and children" as you mention in the FR mail; but how many US military were attacked as they offered food to women and children. Maybe Calley erred on the side of caution, but I'm not quite sure why you brought him into this debate.
Don't need to read too much, since I saw enough to last me a lifetime.
I am sure you would never fail to report such things up the chain of command.
What I would do is irrelevant.
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