The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) became a seemingly unstoppable self-perpetuating machine, deaf to the concerns of the armed forces, blind to their needs, and profligate with its own resources. IHAT’s caseload is handed over to Service police, with the support of civilian police, as soon as possible. So says the Defence Committee of MPs, in a report.
Johnny Mercer, Conservative Plymouth MP, and Chair of the sub-Committee inquiry, said: “Throughout this process there has been an almost total disregard of the welfare of soldiers and their families. We need to hold our people in the highest esteem and a repeat of IHAT must never be allowed to happen again. The MoD [Ministry of Defence] must take responsibility for allowing this to happen. They could have discriminated between credible and non-credible cases yet they lacked the will to do so. They need to get on and immediately dismiss those remaining cases that are based on obviously weak evidence.”
The MPs pointed to the absence of a single prosecution against the UK military. The manner in which the armed forces are investigated requires fundamental reform, the MPs conclude.
The background
As the committee report sets out, the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) was set up in 2010 to investigate allegations of abuse by Iraqi civilians against UK armed forces personnel that were said to have occurred between 2003 and 2009. It was expected, to take two years to complete its work. Exploited by two law firms in particular, IHAT’s caseload rose from 165 to over 3000.
For the full report, Who guards the guardians? MoD support for former and serving personnel, visit the Defence Committee’s website.
