Month: May 2013

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Plans to part-privatise military procurement come under scrutiny

By Sharon Black

Queen’s speech mentions moves to ‘improve the way this country procures defence equipment’ and boost reserve forces The Queen’s speech mentions two important forthcoming pieces of legislation in defence regarding proposals that are getting more controversial the longer they are scrutinised. The first involves plans to part-privatise the agency within the Ministry of Defence that deals with the buying, supplying and repairing of all military equipment

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Christopher Geidt: the suave, shrewd and mysterious royal insider

By Sharon Black

MPs have in the past asked in the Commons whether Geidt – now the Queen’s private secretary – was a member of MI6 When the Queen turned around to reveal herself as James Bond’s spymaster in a skit for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, jaws dropped in living rooms around the country at the audacity and humour. But for those that know Sir Christopher Geidt, the Queen’s highly trusted private secretary who has been credited with her deft presentation in recent years, it was more a case of eyebrows raised. Geidt, 63, now in his sixth year by the Queen’s side at Buckingham Palace, has a past that includes suggestions of involvement in and around the secret services.

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Royal official handling press charter won damages over reporter’s SAS claim

By Sharon Black

Queen’s private secretary Sir Christopher Geidt won high court libel action against John Pilger and Central TV in 1991 The senior royal official tasked with handling the creation of a royal charter to regulate the press is a former military intelligence officer who successfully sued an investigative journalist who had sought to question his activities in Cambodia in the 1980s.

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Father of Iraqi allegedly murdered by UK soldiers gives evidence to inquiry

By Sharon Black

Khazaal al-Helfi describes via videolink how army body bag containing his 19-year-old son Ahmed was ‘full of blood’ The father of an Iraqi allegedly murdered by British soldiers has told a public inquiry that when a doctor opened an army body bag containing his 19-year-old son he saw “blood pouring out of his chest”. His son Ahmed had “gunshots on the side of his stomach … his hand was broken [and] the bag was full of blood”, Khazaal al-Helfi told the inquiry on Monday into allegations that British troops murdered up to 20 unarmed prisoners and abused others following a fierce battle with Iraqi insurgents in May 2004. Helfi was the first Iraqi witness to give evidence by videolink from the British embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, to the al-Sweady inquiry, named after the family of another 19-year-old Iraqi allegedly killed by British troops following a fierce gunfight with Iraqi insurgents.

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Welsh airfield at the centre of Britain’s drone revolution

By Sharon Black

Owner of Aberporth base, where unmanned aerial vehicles take off for tests over land and sea, says public fears are illogical It is an odd little airfield, not far from Aberporth in west Wales, a former fishing village that now survives thanks to tourists with a taste for hill walking, windswept beaches and bracing swims in Cardigan Bay. Few of the visitors venture to the former RAF base close by, and those that do are unlikely to know this small site, which was first established in the early years of the second world war, is pioneering some of the most controversial technologies in modern conflict. The Ministry of Defence uses this privately owned airfield to test its “drones” – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

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British military has 500 drones

By Sharon Black

Ministry of Defence in talks to increase the amount of UK airspace to fly remotely piloted weapons The British military now has 500 drones and has been looking for ways to increase the amount of UK airspace in which to fly some of them, the Guardian can reveal. The expansion of the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is in line with the Ministry of Defence’s ambition for a third of the Royal Air Force to consist of remotely piloted aircraft by 2030. But the disclosure will dismay campaigners who have raised ethical and legal concerns over UAVs, which have been used extensively in Afghanistan, and by the CIA to target Taliban and al-Qaida leaders across the border in Pakistan

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Man cleared of murdering two soldiers at Masareene barracks

By Sharon Black

Brian Shivers acquitted at retrial that followed quashing of original conviction for Ulster shootings A man has been acquitted of murdering two British soldiers in Northern Ireland. Brian Shivers, 47, of Co Londonderry, had denied all involvement in the gun attack outside the Massereene army barracks in Antrim in which sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21, died. Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men were seriously injured in the shooting in March 2009.

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The brutal death of Baha Mousa

By Sharon Black

Orwell prize-shortlisted author AT Williams on why he felt compelled to spend years investigating the death of an Iraqi civilian in a British army base in Basra in 2003 Baha Mousa was just a name at first.

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Fake bomb detector salesman sentenced to 10 years

By Sharon Black

Survivors of Iraq attacks to seek £7m compensation as judge describes fraud as ‘callous confidence trick’ The survivors of lethal Baghdad truck bombs driven through checkpoints equipped with fake bomb detectors are to lay claim to at least £7m of the assets of the Somerset fraudster who sold them. An Old Bailey judge sentenced Jim McCormick, 57, to 10 years in jail on Thursday for a fraud he described as the worst he could imagine and “a callous confidence trick”. Now a list of around 200 people either injured or related to the 95 killed in a double bombing on the Iraqi ministries of justice and foreign affairs in 2009 will be presented to the UK authorities

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Fake bomb detector conman jailed for 10 years

By Sharon Black

James McCormick, who sold more than £55m worth of fake detectors likely to have caused Iraqi deaths, jailed for 10 years A fraudster who sold more than £55m worth of fake bomb detectors to Iraq and other security hot spots has been jailed for 10 years.

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SAS sniper Danny Nightingale gets retrial over illegally possessing pistol

By Sharon Black

Sergeant Danny Nightingale pleaded not guilty to charges after having conviction quashed by appeal court judges An SAS sniper faces a retrial over illegally possessing a pistol and ammunition – despite a last-minute claim prosecutors acted improperly by consulting on the case. Sergeant Danny Nightingale on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition.

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Afghanistan bomb: UK to ‘look carefully’ at use of vehicles

By Sharon Black

Cameron pays tribute to three British soldiers killed by bomb and says effectiveness of armoured vehicles will be assessed David Cameron has said the government will “look carefully” at the use of heavily armoured vehicles after three British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while travelling in a Mastiff troop carrier. The prime minister paid tribute to the soldiers and said British troops have paid a “very high price” in Afghanistan

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The Taliban spring offensive – civilians count the cost

By Sharon Black

No major offensive has accompanied the resumption of widescale fighting but it has not stopped civilian casualties rising markedly The Taliban’s annual spring offensive was not marked with a big operation this year, as it did last year when the militants unleashed a string of attacks around Kabul and across Afghanistan.

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UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan bomb attack were in latest Mastiff 3 vehicle

By Sharon Black

Heavily armoured vehicle has previously been praised by soldiers for its resilience in bomb attacks The Ministry of Defence has said that three soldiers who were killed in Helmand province after a roadside bomb attack were travelling in the latest Mastiff 3 armoured vehicle. The US-made Mastiff has previously been praised by soldiers for its resilience in bomb attacks

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Afghanistan roadside bomb kills three British soldiers

By Sharon Black

David Cameron pays tribute to soldiers after explosion that also injured another six UK service personnel Three British soldiers have been killed and several others injured after the heavily armoured vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a large roadside bomb while they were on a routine patrol in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday the men had been killed on Tuesday in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province, on the border of Kandahar just north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. It is understood six other Britons were injured in the explosion, which happened while the soldiers were inside a Mastiff troop carrier – a 15-tonne vehicle which is regarded as one of the safest operated by the British military

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Afghan blast kills British troops

By Sharon Black

Three dead after roadside bomb attack on patrol vehicle in Helmand province, Ministry of Defence confirms Three British soldiers have been killed in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. The soldiers were on a routine patrol when their vehicle was struck by an improvised bomb in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, on Tuesday, the military said.