[Mb-civic] SAS soldier leaves army over 'illegal' iraq war

[Harold Sifton]

SAS soldier leaves army over 'illegal' Iraq war
CHRIS GREENWOOD 
AN SAS soldier has refused to go into combat in Iraq alongside United States forces after branding their tactics "illegal". 

Ben Griffin, 28, left the army after three months in Baghdad over the behaviour of US troops and the policies of coalition forces. He is believed to be the first SAS soldier to refuse to go into combat and quit the army on moral grounds. 

Mr Griffin said at the weekend that he witnessed dozens of illegal acts by US fighters who viewed Iraqis as "sub-human". He said: "I saw a lot of things in Baghdad that were illegal or just wrong. 

  I saw a lot of things in Baghdad that were illegal or just wrong... I did not join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy.

"I knew, so others must have known, that this was not the way to conduct operations if you wanted to win the hearts and minds of the local population. 

"And if you can't win the hearts and minds of the people, you can't win the war." 

Mr Griffin, who was born in London and raised in Wales, said he told his commanders in Hereford that he could no longer take part in a war that was "illegal". 

"I did not join the British Army to conduct American foreign policy," he said. 

Expecting to be reprimanded, court-martialled and branded a coward, he was instead discharged from the army and given a reference describing him as a "balanced, honest, loyal and determined individual who possesses the strength of character to have the courage of his convictions". 

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said that the department did not comment on matters involving SAS personnel. 

Kim Howells, the Foreign Office minister, this weekend admitted that Iraq was "a mess" during a visit to the country to inspect the oil industry. 

However, he played down the prospects of civil war and praised the enthusiasm of ordinary Iraqis for change. 

"People describe Iraq as a mess," he said. "But it is a mess that can't launch an attack now on Iran; a mess that won't be able to march into Kuwait; a mess that can't develop nuclear weapons. 

"So yes, it's a mess, but it's starting to look like the sort of mess that most of us live in." 

The SAS has served alongside its American equivalent, Delta Force, in all parts of Iraq, targeting al-Qaeda cells and insurgents. The Hereford-based unit, formed in 1941 to conduct raids behind enemy lines during the Second World War, is the principal special forces unit of the British Army
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