A BRITISH army officer was accused yesterday of treating his soldiers like “sacrificial lambs” to save his own career.

Major Dan Taylor was also questioned about his moral courage in facing up to his responsibility over an illegal order that he gave to punish Iraqi looters at an aid centre.

He was commanding officer of Camp Bread Basket, near Basra, in May, 2003, when he gave the order to troops who caught looters to “work them hard” — a policy that the Army admits was in breach of the Geneva Convention.

Speaking in a monotone at a court martial at the British army base in Osnabrück, Germany, he denied responsibility for the alleged excesses of his men as they went “Ali Baba-hunting”.

Three soldiers from The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers — Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, and Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30 — stand accused of abusing and assaulting Iraqi civilian prisoners in a case highlighted by controversial photographs of Iraqis being humiliated. Major Taylor has been told that he will not face a court martial himself, but he admitted yesterday that his career was “under a cloud”.

Joseph Giret, counsel for Corporal Kenyon, suggested that it was madness for men of the Milan Section, responsible for anti-tank guided missiles, to have taken captured looters to their “hide” where they rested.

In addition to their kit, there were SA80 rifles with ammunition, 94mm anti-tank missiles, grenades and 30mm rounds, the theft of which could have exposed soldiers to attack.

Mr Giret reminded the major that he had admitted last week that any one of 22 looters captured by his men could have been insurgents and that some carried knives. “It was one of the most massively negligent parts of this operation and madness to have sent anyone to the Milan Section hide,” Mr Giret suggested.

Major Taylor agreed, but said: “I didn’t give that order and I don’t know how they (the looters) got there”.

He said that the Milan Section had been ordered to take part only in capturing the Iraqis who plagued the camp that he was trying to protect with neither facilities to detain criminals nor a legal system with which to punish them.

Major Taylor said that he did not regard looters as falling under the Geneva Convention and devised the plan to make them “work hard” as a deterrent to others.

He denied suggesting that the civilians should be “thrashed” or “given a kicking and chucked over the wall”.

Accused of a lack of duty of care to his men and vagueness in the briefings he gave them, the major answered “no” when asked if there was anything for which he should blame himself.

Mr Giret: “You just didn’t care about either your soldiers or the Iraqis?” The major: “I think that is an incorrect statement.”

Mr Giret: “Do you have moral courage?” The major: “Yes, sir”.

Mr Giret: “Are you prepared now to accept the blame for any part of the events that took place as a consequence of your order?” The major: “I don’t accept any blame for what happened in Milan Section.”

Mr Giret: “I say you are prepared to let these soldiers be sacrificial lambs so your career can be saved?” The major: “That is not the case, sir.” Major Taylor denied telling his men to “beast” the looters, but later admitted under cross-examination by Stephen Vullo, counsel for Lance Corporal Cooley, that the Iraqis were made to run up to three miles with boxes of looted milk on their heads, back to where they had purloined them.

He went on to deny ordering Fusiliers to report in PT kit like “schoolboys on sports day” as they rounded up the Iraqis.

Mr Vullo said: “The Fusiliers date back more than 300 years, their first battle honour was in 1695. They fought in the Napoleonic War, every major battle in the First World War and every theatre in the Second World War.

“They are the only regiment to be sent into the Gulf War during the first days of battle. The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers won six Victoria Crosses before breakfast at Gallipoli and you wanted them to turn up like schoolboys on sports day?” The major replied: “They had a specific task, which they did.”

The case continues today.

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