Iraq murder trial charges dropped

[Lucifer Box]

Mordy, don't forget Chico gets a stiffy at the thought of some non-believing ragheads getting killed by Christian troops.

[Mordac]

Chico, just say "Grauniad readers".

HTH

[Chico]

Answer the lefty tree hugging, human rights legal brigade aided and abetted by the commie rags read mostly by lentil eating, sandal wearing terrorist apologists.

[John Galt]

This may be a stupid question but who the hell brought the case in the first place? And how did it end up costing £10m if there was no real evidence???

[AlfredJPruffock]

BBC correspondent Paul Adams said there was an "underlying sense" that some of the witnesses were "out to try and get something for themselves".

Unlike the folks who invaded Iraq in the first place.

Naturally.

[AtW]

Looks like a reasonable decision on court's behalf - if it was not for court cases like this we would never know justice existed. Shame about costs of course but its the price of justice.

[Chico]

Cue the tree huggers and the appeasers........

[Mordac]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4403264.stm

The charges against seven soldiers accused of murdering an Iraqi civilian have been dismissed by a judge at a court martial in Colchester, Essex.
He ruled there was insufficient evidence against the seven, accused of murdering Nadhem Abdullah.

The 18-year-old was alleged to have died following an attack on Iraqi civilians in al-Ferkah, southern Iraq, in May 2003.

The Parachute Regiment soldiers always denied murder and violent disorder.

The trial has cost taxpayers an estimated £10m.

Gilbert Blades, the solicitor defending one of the men, said the failure in the case was that there was no proper investigation into what happened.

"He [the judge] identified the key factor and that was the lack of a proper professional investigation of the case," Mr Blades told BBC News.

"It was lamentably bad and it's been highlighted and I think the lessons to be learnt are that with cases like this, with serious consequences, then they should be properly investigated.

"This case wasn't properly investigated."

One witness at the court martial, Samira Rishek, a Marsh-Arab who had claimed to have been brutally beaten by the soldiers while she was pregnant, admitted to the court it was a "wicked lie".

The court heard that Mrs Rishek, along with other witnesses, was paid $100 a day to give evidence at the trial and that she only agreed to give evidence after being told she would be paid.

BBC correspondent Paul Adams said there was an "underlying sense" that some of the witnesses were "out to try and get something for themselves".

A number of questions were going to be asked about why the trial had been mounted, he added.