Original subtitles

The inquiry's terms of reference are as follows, and I quote,

to investigate and report on the allegations made

by the claimants against British soldiers

on the 14th and 15th of May 2004.

Corporal Wood, do you understand how matters will proceed?

GUNFIRE, EXPLOSIONS

DOOR SLAMS

HE GROANS

Come on, wee man, come on. Let's go find your mum.

Here we go, come on.

Ho, ho! Look at this smart wee laddie.

I'm putting you two on the clock.

T- minus ten.

23 years in the Army, son. It never took me to places like this.

Come on, Brian. Keep up.

Don't tell me they have a coach just for goalies.

Keep it brief.

So, you wanted to come out running.

Yeah.

It begins with R, Brian.

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

HE EXHALES

GUNFIRE

SHOUTING IN DISTANCE

Go!

EXPLOSIONS

50 metres!

SHOUTING

Get on the ground now!

Get the fuck on the ground now!

Shut the fuck up!

CAMERA CLICKS

DOOR BUZZER

DOOR BUZZER

Wait there, wait there. I'll be right down.

Morning.

This intercom and security are here

because of all the threats against us. It doesn't work properly,

so I spend all my time running up and down these stairs.

It won't be the nutjobs that kill me,

it'll be the exhaustion.

Thanks for coming up to the office to see me.

It'll give you a chance to see the job the way it really is.

Of course, I'm too bloody busy

to get up to the university at the moment.

HE GRUNTS

Some of you will end up in big fuck-off law practices in the City

with smoked glass and neck massages,

but the vast majority of lawyers work like this.

You'll need to get your brains around that.

Right, straight through, in here, come on.

My advice is go running,

do yoga, start flower-arranging.

Anything to give you a sense of perspective.

This job will eat you up and spit you out if you're not careful.

What's your name?

Oh, shit. There is none.

Er, right.

So, you want to be human rights lawyers.

What's the first quality you're going to need? Hm?

Got some sachets here somewhere.

Come on, I won't bite.

Anything else?

And why do I say that, Deena?

Because people will tear you up.

Politicians, the press, the establishment.

It doesn't matter how clear it is to you

that human rights are sacrosanct and you have a duty to protect them -

whoever's they might be - other people will tell you different.

They'll tell you're a bleeding heart, they'll tell you

you're naive, they'll tell you you're money-grubbing.

Why do they say those things? Hm? Why do they say those things?

things they really don't want to hear.

And here's one of them.

British soldiers get away with murder.

Who's heard of Baha Mousa?

Couple of years ago, Iraqi lad, worked in a hotel in Basra.

About the same age as you lot. He's, uh...

He is now, yes. Brace yourself.

That's him after a period at Her Majesty's pleasure.

So, on behalf of his family, I respectfully argued in court

that Baha Mousa, in British custody in Iraq, had the same human rights

as any other prisoner in any other British jail.

Doesn't matter if it's in Basra or in Birmingham.

The Ministry of Defence, very good, they did indeed,

because it made their job much more difficult.

But the High Court and the Court of Appeal agreed with me.

British law applies wherever British soldiers have command.

Anybody want to argue with that principle?

Well, you want to be human rights lawyers so I bloody well hope not.

But here's my question...

Tell you what, everyone, come here. Put your drinks down.

Come round here. Come on, chop chop. Over here.

Right.

Here's Baha Mousa.

Face-down in the dirt with British soldiers all around him

with their SA80s pointed down at him.

That's you lot, come on. SA80s pointed down at him.

Now...

..we teach our soldiers how to kill other soldiers in a war,

and there's nothing wrong with that.

But the judge found that Baha Mousa died as a result of 93 injuries

incurred over a 36-hour period in British Army custody.

I proved that case.

But not one soldier was found guilty of murder or even manslaughter

or unlawful killing. Is it right you guys get away with murder?

Put your guns down.

So, how come it's me that's a disgrace to my country?

DOOR CLOSES

CLEARS HIS THROAT

DOOR SLAMS

KEYBOARD CLICKS

DOOR BUZZER

DOOR BUZZER

Did I?

Right.

Right.

Make your programme. Get it on the screen.

So why do you need me?

Have you got any idea the amount of work this would take?

Night.

HE SIGHS

PHONE RINGS

Mazin, hi.

Yeah, thanks for getting back to me.

That's right, that's right. Listen,

I might need you to go back to Iraq for me. Something new.

Same arrangement as before,

only...the scale of this thing could be huge

so I'd need you to track down witnesses,

sound 'em out, and I'll meet them in Istanbul.

Right.

BABY CRIES

BABY CONTINUES CRYING

SHE EXHALES

HE PANTS

DISTANT EXPLOSIONS, FAINT GUNFIRE

Move! INDISTINCT SHOUTING AND SWEARING

Are we good?

PERSISTENT HIGH-PITCHED WHINE

ROCKS SKITTER

INDISTINCT, MUFFLED SPEECH

HE PANTS

HIGH-PITCHED WHINE STOPS

HE PANTS

UNTRANSLATED

16!

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

16!

HE PANTS

HE SOBS

Has he had his expenses?

UNTRANSLATED

Istanbul interviews, day two. Time - 9:30am.

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

Take him back to the beginning. Family set-up and all that.

UNTRANSLATED

Does he work? School?

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

Did he have a gun with him?

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

And...what happened to his weapon?

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

He said just now he did. A Kalashnikov?

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

I need to know whether he was carrying the weapon that day.

Hm? Ask him, because in his previous statement, here...

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

Here. He said he had it. Now.. if he's going to chop and change

he'll be no good to me in the witness box.

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

Maybe we are... Maybe we are finished here.

Thank you.

UNTRANSLATED CONVERSATION

Thank you. Please.

Please.

And were you at the Battle of Danny Boy?

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

Hi.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

SHE WAILS

It is our contention that British soldiers

abused and mistreated Iraqis on the battlefield at Danny Boy

and afterwards at their base, at Camp Abu Naji.

More than that...

..we believe that many of those killed, injured or detained...

..were not soldiers at all.

There were farmers there and innocent bystanders

going about their daily business.

We believe that the Army carried out unlawful killings,

perhaps up to 20.

That's what we need to find out.

It's normal in that lawless part of Iraq

for farmers to carry guns but... does that make them soldiers?

British soldiers are held to high standards and rightly so.

I see it as part of my job to hold them to that.

And in my view, there is powerful evidence

that on the day in question, they let this country down.

is the Army's own Military Police investigation closed too soon.

It wasn't good enough.

LINE RINGS

That's why we've called upon the Government

to set up a full public inquiry.

We don't want to be talked about in the same way as the Japanese

in the Second Worid War, or the Americans at My Lai.

We need to get this all out in the open

and only a public inquiry can do that.

HE TAPS ON GLASS

Gavin...the baby.

The baby.

Hi.

ENGINE IDLES

M...

My, uh...

UNTRANSLATED

So we're taking the bodies back for ID-ing.

Falconer picked us out for it.

Right, I'll pick him up.

You yank his trousers back up.

Chain gun could do that. A 30mm tank shell.

Killing someone's one thing...

..picking them up after, looking 'em in the eye...

Tell you what I don't see.

I don't see any village elders who sent these kids out here

with rifles against a company full of tanks and Warriors.

SIREN IN DISTANCE

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Killing someone's one thing...picking 'em up after,

HE SOBS

When the judges approved our judicial review

they slammed the Military Police and the Ministry of Defence

for not going far enough.

Took our side on every point of substance.

Left the Government no option but a full public inquiry.

Listen to this, Patrick. It's not some Guardian editorial,

this is from the judge's own ruling.

"In our view, the Military Police investigation

"relating to allegations of murder and torture was deficient."

It wasn't fit for purpose.

No major incident room.

Failure to identity or interview relevant personnel.

Failure to seize all contemporaneous records.

Failure to interview the detainees.

Coming on with the legal team who, uh... Hang on. Where is it?

How did the judges describe us, Deena?

Commendable determination, Patrick. Couldn't have put it better myself.

That war shames our nation, Patrick.

Having the walls closing in concentrates the mind.

"We", Patrick. We. Come on.

And some of them were beaten and shot back at the camp

after they were detained. More to the point,

the Army say they were combatants and the families say they weren't.

PHONE RINGS

Shift your arse, Patrick. You're sitting on Exhibit A.

Show these to Patrick.

Look at these.

Look at the condition of these prisoners. It's shameful.

I interviewed this guy in Istanbul. He's willing to testify.

He's just a farmer. Almost all of them say they were denied water.

DOOR BUZZER They've clearly been knocked about.

It's a fucking disgrace, Patrick,

and it's our chance to expose it. Our duty to expose it.

Vetted by my man in Iraq. If he thinks they've got what it takes,

then I meet them on neutral ground in Istanbul.

PHONE RINGS

But you and I know what British soldiers are capable of doing

to detainees. Baha Mousa proved that.

And this is just as grave and important as that.

It's an uphill struggle, Patrick, I get that. It always is.

There's 40 shipping containers of disclosure for us to wade through.

This is the MOD sending us a haystack, saying,

"Good luck finding the needle." Thanks.

Do you want this job or don't you? Cos as you can probably see,

we've got a lot of work to get through.

Well, they've got crusts on, Patrick.

Do you think you can cope with that?

HE PANTS

See you got a letter, then, Woody. Is that from the inquiry?

How's that settling with you now, then?

Yeah, live rounds.

And, no, I didn't... gouge anyone's eye out.

Yeah.

Still think about them days?

Danny Boy and the rest?

Five years ago now, more...

Tough days.

Punchy days.

Who do you talk to about them days?

You sure that's a good idea?

Ever thought about knocking on a door

and getting some help with that?

But you're not now.

Knock on a door.

I did.

OK. Stress test.

Their claims against ours. Deena.

Hm. So who gave that order?

No-one seems to know.

If the dead bodies needed ID-ing,

why didn't they photograph them there? Hm?

Instead of transporting them.

The trophy pictures show that there were cameras present.

Patrick.

Bit of balance?

..neither side can prove that. That's our word against theirs.

Very noble, Patrick.

We say incompetence or cover-up. Anything else?

It is. So, you're fired up,

you've been shot at, you've taken a guy with his hands up prisoner

and you live that grey area, you're in it.

Maybe you knock him about - is that what you're saying?

Hm. Well, here's your answer.

Because they're British soldiers.

They're trained to be better than that.

Either they are better than that or they're not.

PHONE BUZZES

We literally had no choice.

Either we let the killings of 20 potentially innocent Iraqis

go unchallenged or we do what we did. What choice did we have?

If we win, it'll all be forgotten.

If we lose, it'll all be irrelevant.

HE CLEARS THROAT

SHOUTING

You all right?

Hang on.

Isn't he home?

He's usually home by now.

You haven't knocked.

OK.

Oh, no.

I said he should tell you what was on his mind.

Just a few last-minute thoughts.

You care to repeat that?

I've represented more soldiers than any other lawyer in the country.

Is there any other kind, really...

..in the end?

Did you forget your kecks?

You OK?

Sure you don't want me to come?

I'll be thinking about you.

OK.

And you'd be good for me too.

Who's up today?

What's that?

Who sent this?

Turned up? From where? From our side?

So the local warlord lists all Iraqi dead and detainees as his soldiers.

Everyone there on the day.

Shit.

For all we know it's...

..it's complete bullshit. It's...

..propaganda put about by local Iraqi militia.

Turning them into martyrs. It's...

Cos Patrick will point them in that direction. It's obvious.

They're a bunch of lads with Kalashnikovs

that British troops threw 13,000 rounds at.

That's what they are.

Lads at breakfast, soldiers at teatime,

lads again by bedtime, if they lasted that long.

I'll brief Patrick.

DOOR OPENS

They're taking it at face value?

It's probably just a boast, not a fucking employment record.

Our witnesses have most probably never even seen that list.

It makes no difference.

It makes no difference at all to the human rights issues,

it makes no difference to what's important.

It's one piece of evidence amongst a mountain of stuff.

It doesn't mean that terrible things didn't happen that day

It came out of nowhere.

DOOR SLAMS

INAUDIBLE WHISPERING

FALTERING BREATHING

DISTANT SHOUTING CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK

Who's that?

Who's going to be there?

People from Iraq.

Because you killed people?

Well, not just me. There was a lot of people killed, mate.

And when you've talked about it, then what?

Well, when I've finished talking about it, then...

..then I'm finished with being a soldier.