By John Q. Hosedrinker 
Former UK Special Forces members have revealed eyewitness accounts of alleged war crimes, including the execution of unarmed civilians and detainees, in Iraq and Afghanistan. These allegations, spanning over a decade, involve both the SAS and SBS, detailing practices such as planting weapons on bodies and falsifying reports to conceal unlawful killings. The testimony includes accounts of systematic killings, with some soldiers admitting to an addictive pursuit of kills and a “mob mentality.” This new evidence, including video footage, significantly expands upon previous reports and reveals that then-Prime Minister David Cameron received repeated warnings about these actions.
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Children handcuffed and shot – that’s the horrifying claim emerging from former UK Special Forces soldiers breaking their silence on alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. These veterans, speaking publicly for the first time, describe witnessing colleagues murder unarmed civilians, including children, while they slept or after being taken into custody.
The accounts detail a chilling pattern of extrajudicial killings. One veteran recalls a young boy, clearly too young to fight, being handcuffed and shot. This wasn’t an isolated incident; the killing of detainees became routine. Soldiers would search individuals, handcuff them, and then execute them, before removing the handcuffs and planting a weapon near the body to make it appear as though the victims were combatants.
This systematic abuse wasn’t limited to small units. Several veterans testified that the knowledge of these alleged crimes was widespread throughout the UK Special Forces command structure; “everyone knew” what was happening. The alleged cover-up extended beyond the battlefield.
Fake grenades, incapable of detonating, were carried into operations. Soldiers also reportedly used AK-47 rifles with folding stocks, easier to conceal and conveniently “plant” near bodies. Post-operational reports were falsified with the apparent complicity of officers higher up in the chain of command. Any potential breach of the rules of engagement would be smoothed over with carefully worded reports, helped along by legal advisors and staff officers.
The reports themselves were a fiction, designed to obscure the truth. One intelligence officer described discrepancies between official reports claiming firefights and photographic evidence showing bodies with multiple, clean headshots. These actions were not only evident to the UK Special Forces, they appear to have been known and tolerated at a higher level, in the Western command structure. The consistent complaints from the Afghan president about night raids, civilian casualties, and detentions indicate a widespread awareness of this problem amongst international leadership and yet, those who could have stopped it chose not to.
The sheer scale of the alleged crimes, and the systemic nature of the cover-up, raises serious questions about accountability and responsibility. We must question whether such actions are the consequence of individuals acting alone or whether this represents a broader institutional failure that allowed, and perhaps even enabled, such atrocities. This calls for a comprehensive and thorough investigation to bring those responsible to justice, whether for the actions themselves or for their complicity in allowing this to happen.
The impact extends far beyond the immediate victims. The revelation of such widespread alleged war crimes undermines trust in the UK military, erodes confidence in international institutions, and casts a long shadow on our understanding of the cost of war. The casually inhumane actions of this reported behaviour reveal a deep moral failure and it is this moral failure that must be addressed. The scale of this potential institutional failure also raises questions about the oversight and accountability mechanisms in place within the military itself. What safeguards are in place to prevent similar actions from happening in the future? And to what extent were the decisions and actions of these soldiers influenced by the political context of the conflicts in which they were involved?
These are not simple questions; they demand careful examination and analysis. It’s crucial to avoid simplistic narratives, whether those that seek to exonerate all involved or those that paint an overly broad brush across the entire military. Instead, a thorough and impartial investigation is needed. Justice for the victims and accountability for those responsible are paramount. Anything less would fail those who died and the ideals of justice and human rights. The implications of these allegations are immense, and a full, independent inquiry is the only way to begin to address them. Only by confronting these uncomfortable truths can we hope to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.