A project examining the thousands of allegations of detainee mistreatment and unlawful killing against British forces during Operation Telic, the UK’s military deployment during the invasion and occupation of Iraq (2003-11).
The UK government has faced numerous legal challenges concerning the handling of allegations of British war crimes, prompting a large number of investigations and significant public and political agitation regarding the state of the British military and its judicial system.
This project brings together hundreds of documents relating to these events. Featuring investigative records, legal judgments, official correspondence, FOIA requests, inquiry documents and governmental reports, the material spans early allegations contained in NGO reports to the passage of the Government’s 2021 Overseas Operations Act.
It has a particular focus on justice and accountability, with the framework which emerged in the wake of these allegations developing in complex and multifaceted ways, encompassing Royal Military Police investigations, two public inquiries, International Criminal Court preliminary examinations and the creation of multiple new investigative bodies.
Despite the significant number of allegations and investigations, there have been only five successful convictions, relating to just two incidents – the death of Baha Mousa and detainee abuse at Camp Breadbasket. Some reviews, such as the Aitken Report and the Ministry of Defence’s Systemic Issues Working Group, have asserted that the military has learnt from these events and push back against the suggestion that criminality and misconduct is systemic within the British Armed Forces. However, the ongoing inquiry into alleged UK Special Forces war crimes in Afghanistan raises new questions about the soundness of these findings.
