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Last week a furore rightly erupted over the insistence of Ministry of Defence officials that soldiers engaged in Iraq must face prosecution for alleged offences against the European Convention on Human Rights. Earlier this month in the House of Lords, six former Chiefs of the Defence Staff joined forces to protest that this posed a major threat to the morale and future efficiency of the British Army. Only gradually emerging, however, from behind veils of official obfuscation, are the details of another, equally serious threat to the army's future, as MoD officials plan to lock it into a fully integrated...

May 2003 was an uncomfortable time in Iraq. The President of the United States had just announced that combat operations were complete and force levels were beginning to be reduced, following the defeat of the Iraqi army in the field. But the vacuum that had been created by the toppling of the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein had not been filled - and clearly the people needed some form of leadership after 35 years of one-party rule. That vacuum was made more severe by the removal of the Iraqi army and police, resulting in an outbreak of lawlessness that was...

A British soldier serving in Iraq who saved 30 members of his unit from an ambush has been awarded the first Victoria Cross for more than 20 years. Private Johnson Beharry, 25, was struck by enemy fire as he guided a convoy of Warrior fighting vehicles through the town of Al Amarah last May. A month later he saved more lives in an attack which left him in a coma. Mr Beharry is one of 140 servicemen and women honoured for Iraq, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia and Africa. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said: "These honours and awards recognise the outstanding...

We've all seen the marvellous movie'Zulu', where the heroic Welsh garrison at Rorke's Drift match the power of the awesome Zulu Impis. The Two Armies By the middle of the nineteenth century Great Britain held two colonies in southern Africa, the Cape Colony and Natal. These stretched from the southern tip of the continent (the Cape) upwards along its eastern coast (Natal). In the interior of the region were two independent Boer republics, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Among these European enclaves were the remnants of the original African nations, the strongest of which was the Zulu kingdom,...

The Army's new £1.9 billion (almost US $4 Billion) communications system is facing such serious problems that the Director of Infantry initially refused to accept the portable radio into service. Brig Jamie Balfour was ordered to take the radio "for political reasons" despite a series of issues that make it "totally unsuitable" for use in front-line infantry operations. Troops complain that Bowman is not strong enough for combat use Brig Balfour told a recent briefing at the School of Infantry: "All the rumours you've heard. It is as bad as you've heard. "But we have been told that, politically, we...

Paul Lowe, right, with cousin Barry, left, and brother Craig. Paul was killed two days ago. Picture: Tim Ockenden/ PA THE killers of the British hostage Kenneth Bigley last night claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the Black Watch in Iraq in which three soldiers died. The followers of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said they carried out the bombing on Thursday, according to a statement on an Islamic website. Iraq’s most wanted group made the chilling claim as a bitter political row broke out at home over the regiment’s re-deployment in support of American troops. On...

BRITISH troops in Iraq were engaged in an intensity of combat during August not experienced by the Army for many decades. The Commander of 1st Mechanised Brigade, Brig Andrew Kennett, has suggested British soldiers last faced such an onslaught during the Korean War. The level of fighting staggered troops from Op Telic 1 and turned fresh-faced squaddies into battle-hardened soldiers. While violence erupted in Basra, the scenes were even more desperate in Al Amarah. The month of unrest was triggered by American attempts to seize the holy city of Najaf and lead to Shia fundamentalists targeting all coalition troops. British...

A former training instructor at Deepcut Army barracks in Surrey faces a jail sentence after admitting five sex attacks on young soldiers. Leslie Skinner, 46, changed his plea moments before he was due to stand trial yesterday at Kingston Crown Court. A further four counts of indecent assault and one of male rape were allowed to lie on file. Leslie Skinner arriving at court yesterday Surrey Police said the attacks were not connected to the deaths of four recruits found with gunshot wounds at the barracks between 1995 and 2002. But the parents of two of the dead said Skinner's...

A chill ran down the spines of admirers of the British army when they heard that the green-eyeshade lads at the Treasury may be about to do with word processors what generations of Frenchmen, Americans, Indians, Burmese, Egyptians, Afrikaners, Germans, Japanese, Chinese and the IRA couldn't do with bullet, bayonet, shell, sword and bomb: wipe out the Black Watch. That Scottish regiment, once the 42nd of Foot, has served Britain with extraordinary valor for 2 1/2 centuries. Some of its story belongs to Americans as well: At Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York stands a small cairn with a shiny...

February 28, 2003 Army's £92m rifles 'still jamming' By Daniel McGrory in Kuwait and Michael Evans SOME British troops training for war in Iraq are complaining that their SA80 rifles, modified at a cost of £92 million, are still jamming. A group of soldiers approached The Times in Kuwait and said that the rifle, now called SA80-A2, had jammed on numerous occasions. An army captain who asked not to be identified said that live firing exercises had been carried out on board ships taking them to the Gulf. “In the past, dust and sand have been blamed for jamming, but...

LONDON, February 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As several activists of the Green Peace organization chained themselves Tuesday, February 4, to tanks in the southern British city of Southampton, protesting the looming U.S.-led war on Iraq, the British army received orders to be on standby for a forthcoming invasion of Iraq. The demonstrators went to a military harbor in the city and chained themselves to the tanks in a bid to impede the transit of U.K. weaponry to the Gulf, BBC news online reported. "It is worth taking such a risk if we are to succeed in heading off...

LONDON - British troops training for possible war in Iraq have been forced to wear sneakers because the military is short of boots, a lawmaker said Thursday. Opposition Conservative Party legislator James Gray said soldiers had told him of the problem when he visited a regiment recently. "They said to me, 'This is ridiculous. Why can't we get proper boots?'" he said. "They said it was all right if you're a size 1 or a size 12, but if you are 8, 9 or 10, as most people are, then there is a real problem." "It is simply extraordinary," he...

London Daily Telegraph August 1, 2002 Pg. 1 Tanks, Guns And Boots All Failed Army In Desert By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Only half of the British Army's main battle tanks were left operational during a major exercise in the Gulf last year when their engines became clogged with dust after a few hours in the desert. Other equipment, from guns to boots, also failed to withstand the rigours of Operation Swift Sword - raising major questions over the Army's capacity to participate in a land assault against Iraq. An investigation by the National Audit Office published today found...