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Release of the Aitken report - an investigation into cases of abuse and unlawful killing in Iraq in 2003 and 2004

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE News Release (007/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 25 January 2008

The Ministry of Defence has today released details of the report by Brigadier Robert Aitken that sets out the Army's response to cases of abuse and unlawful killing of civilians in Iraq in 2003 and the early part of 2004.

The report focuses solely on instances where members of the British Army are alleged or proven to have mistreated Iraqi civilians. It found no evidence of systematic abuse by members of the British Army but it identified areas for development to ensure that those events will never be repeated.

The report made three recommendations for the Army:

* It must learn and implement lessons from the disciplinary process in the same way that it does for wider operational issues;

* It needs to find better ways to entrench its core values and standards of behaviour and discipline into the everyday lives of personnel;

* It must ensure that administrative action is used correctly.

Following the release of the report, The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said:

"The British Army has performed to the highest standards under extraordinarily testing conditions in Iraq. But I take no pride in the conduct of a very small number of our people who deliberately abused Iraqi civilians during 2003 and the early part of 2004.

"This report is rightly critical of our performance in a number of areas and it catalogues the significant number of steps we have already taken towards ensuring that such behaviour is not repeated. I am now satisfied that we have put in place measures which ensure that, as far as is humanly possible, there should be no repetition of this behaviour."

The Defence Secretary, Des Browne said:

'These are extremely important issues for the Army. I welcome this report and support the actions that CGS and the Army have taken to try and prevent any recurrence. The British public should be reassured that such behaviour is not representative of our thoroughly professional and disciplined armed forces.'

Note to Editors:

1. The report can be obtained from the MoD Website http://www.mod.uk.

2. The author of the report is Brigadier Robert Aitken. He was commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Wales in 1977 and has served in Bosnia, where he was Commander British Forces for the six months prior to becoming Commander 160 (Wales) Brigade in May 2001. He attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2004 and assumed his current appointment as Director of Army Personnel Strategy in December 2004.