Diary of a squaddie: Sunburn, sore feet and three more Ali Babas tossed in the river

[Joanne98]

Diary of a squaddie: Sunburn, sore feet and three more Ali Babas tossed in the river

Saturday April 28, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2067564,00.html

Private Stuart Mackenzie was a Territorial Army soldier serving with the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers in Iraq in 2003, writes Audrey Gillan. He was attached to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, responsible for the running of a detention centre in which the Iraqi hotel worker Baha Mousa was held before dying from the 93 injuries he sustained there in September of that year.
The private kept a diary of his time in Iraq and extracts of it were produced at the court martial of seven QLR soldiers who were acquitted in March of abusing prisoners. Another soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, 35, of the QLR, admitted the war crime of treating a number of Iraqis in his custody inhumanely, and will be the first member of the British armed forces to become a convicted war criminal when he is sentenced on Monday. Mackenzie appeared as a prosecution witness against his fellow soldiers but refused to confirm that what he had written in his diaries had actually taken place, though he denied they were fake. He insisted, when cross-examined: "I don't remember." He is the man who was alleged to have stunted photographs of British soldiers abusing Iraqis before selling them to the Daily Mirror - the incident which led to the sacking of the paper's then editor, Piers Morgan.

Mackenzie faced a court martial relating to the Mirror pictures but the case against him was dropped. He was dismissed from the TA last August for gross misconduct relating to the matter. The Guardian has obtained the extracts of the diaries produced in court and publishes them here for the first time.



Thursday 24/07/03

Still on QRF + called out about 12pm. Ali Baba stealing steel rods from outside camp. Chased them. Asp and Benny swam the sewer to catch him. 1 warning shot fired by soldier X . Man caught and roughed up. Head under water. He is going to be ill ...

Friday 25/07/03

Leg and a winged Ali Baba into Shat al Arab for stealing wood. Piss funny.

Monday, 28/07/03

Out on VCP and went for a swim in the Shat-al-Arab. Caught some Ali Babas. Leg and a wing three Ali Babas into river. Tried to row their boat. Well hard.

Tuesday, 29/07/03

Still on op about 2am. Ali Babas x 5 on boat moored on dry dock. 10 shots fired. 1x Ali Baba 9 x soldier. 1 Ali Baba hit twice in chest. Moaning + dying. Artificial bleed. Died before being casevaced . Soldier X, me + Graham on scene. 1 Ali Baba towards us. X fired 1 x shot. Fell in water. Not found. Stayed on op. Remaining 3 Ali Babas left in boat. Came back after 2 hours to rob more + possible attack on us. We withdrew. OC gave us a beer each. Made our statements.

Undated

Up at 4am ... At Bassra Bank by 6am. Public order training for police. Women with leather faces pushing to claim pension. Punched a policeman for not doing as told. Sunburn on arms Finish @ 1pm. Sore feet and very tired. Out to VCP at 4pm. Found 5 SMGs - British issue + 1 9mm pistol + mags . Arrest perp and take car. Hostage beaten up - broken wrist, concussion, sore bollocks. Raid on market to no avail. Kids throwing stones. Hit on calf and shoulder - no damage. Back for 9pm ... Up @ 7am for breakfast then brief at 7.30am. Brief put back ... No work until 4.30pm. Changed again @ No patrols until 7.30pm with brigade commander ... I found a SMG + mag in an ambulance. Then top cover at Zulu muster . Kids throwing stones 2 hit on knee - pissed off chased kids off. Back to Camp Stephen. Walk through of special op - top secret from Downing Street! No power in camp. Water low.

Undated

Every other multiple seems to have a day off, apart from us - again. Up at 7am then out at 8am-11am. Petrol station - boring, no power so no petrol could be pumped ... A big Iraqi punched Mr Rodgers and got filled in immediately by about 10 of us. He was bleeding from his head, face and ears. He was battered from head to toe so we let him go instead of arresting him.

9/7/03

3-hour patrols. 10pm-1am and guess what nothing happening ... Bed at 2am, up at 8am. I am fucked. Out from 5am-5pm crowd control, playing soldiers, fighting back crowd. Banged knee on kerb, very swollen. I am sore. I am in clip . Very tired ... Met Czeck Republic soldiers, built like Arnie carrying AK47s. Very friendly.

Thursday 11/9/03

On 4 hour patrol - ... found anti-aircraft gun ... Horse bit me. Found 3 Ali Babas at WTP7. Beat them up with sticks and filmed it - good day so far.

Friday - Sat 13/9/03

House raid, for hours, nothing found. Caught 3 Ali Babas - beat fuck out of them in back of Saxon. 1 had a punctured lung + broken ribs + fingers. 1 had a dislocated shoulder + broken fingers.

Sunday 14/9/03

Up at 4.45am, on task by 5.30. Soft knocks at a hotel. Found money. Dinar Dave was caught stealing and grassed up everyone else. We were searched but nothing found. We also found 3 x AKs , 3 x pistols, 2 x grenades, Russian, super binos, NBC kit , bayonets and electrical devices for IEDs . Good find. Back at 12.30pm ... Out a few times then to main for conditioning prisoners. all night - no sleep for them - about 3 hours for me. (7pm)

Monday 15/9/03

Still conditioning the terrorists. They are in clip big time. Finally got back to camp at 13.30pm. Back to BG Main for 10pm. The fat bastard who kept taking his hood off and escaping from his plasticuffs got put in another room. He resisted . He stopped breathing. Then we couldn't revive him. What a shame.

Tuesday 16/9/03

Still guarding the prisoners, Back to Camp Stephen for b/fast at 7.45am. Back to guard prisoners - took them to Um Kasar : found out 1 had a fractured neck, 1 had a punctured liver, 1 had a massive hernia. The others were just really beaten up. It's going massive. It's a SIB investigation. Murder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2067564,00.html

[Joanne98]

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