No doubt the Americans learned their bad habits from the English masters of two centuries ago. Here’s what the British soldiers in Iraq are up to.
Mr Matairi, whose brother was killed by Saddam Hussein’s regime, said he felt betrayed at being ill-treated by British soldiers he had welcomed to Iraq.
“I put flowers in my children’s hands to welcome the British soldiers when they came to free us from Saddam,” Mr Matairi told the court with the aid of an interpreter.
“I could not believe that these criminals were from Britain. According to our knowledge it was a civilised country, so I could not believe it.”
Mr Matairi said he feared that the treatment he received would leave his three children fatherless. “We were hit all the time, continuously without knowing the reason why,” he added.
Mr Matairi, part-owner of the hotel from which he and his staff were arrested, told them “we are going to die”.
“They [the soldiers] were celebrating the beatings like it was Christmas,” he said.
He said the soldiers laughed at his cries of pain, playing a karate chop game as they hit him.
Next time you are listening to Tony Blair droning on and on about compassion and democracy, it’s worth remembering where the buck stops.
Laughing British soldiers playing games of karate chop and torturing Iraqis, innocent* and otherwise.
* If they were not innocent, what would they be guilty of? Wanting foreign invaders of their country out…