Lawyers representing Mousa and those acting for more than 150 British troops blamed the incidents on senior officers, ignorance of the law, poor training and the "extraordinary" conditions in which the soldiers had to work.
Mousa, 26, died after being subjected to beatings that left him with 93 separate injuries. One of the other detainees recalled hearing him scream in agony shortly before he died at Battle Group Main camp on the evening of 15 September 2003, Rabinder Singh QC, for the Mousa family, told the inquiry in London.
Mousa cried out: "Oh my God, I'm going to die, I'm going to die. Leave me alone, please leave me alone for five minutes. I am very tired. I am going to die." Singh added: "Baha was a human being, yet to his guards he was known as 'fat boy' or 'fat bastard'. To British soldiers, Iraqi civilians were routinely known as 'Ali Babas'."
Singh continued: "It is important not to fall into the trap of thinking that this case was simply one of indiscipline … This case is not just about beatings or a few bad apples. There is something rotten in the whole barrel." [source GUARDIAN]
And for those who have always realised that there's lots of TRUTH in HUMOUR...
