Iraqis desecrate British war cemetery

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news...0/ixworld.html

Iraqis desecrate British war cemetery
By Kate Connolly in Kut
(Filed: 20/05/2003)


A British First World War cemetery in Iraq which was restored by United States marines as a sign of gratitude for Britain's participation in the recent conflict has been desecrated by Iraqis.

The cemetery in the eastern city of Kut, site of some of the fiercest losses the British military has suffered in the region, was badly vandalised hours after a high-profile rededication ceremony attended by British generals and Anglican bishops.

Some gravestones of tens of thousands of British and Indian troops who fell in Kut after being forced to retreat from Baghdad by Turkish forces in 1915 have been toppled. The siege of the city lasted until April 1916.

The Union flag which was hoisted during the ceremony was ripped down and torched and its metal flagpole bent to an angle of 45 degrees. US marines in Kut expressed their anger. "We were real proud of our efforts to restore it and now it's just been trashed again, which makes me and a whole lot of people so angry," said Lt-Col Bob Zangas, of the 4th Civil Affairs Group, who has been heavily involved in the project.

Earlier this month US marines under the command of Gen Richard Natonski set to work to clear the burial site, which was "eyeball high" in rubbish and weeds, after Britain stopped paying the caretaker following the 1991 Gulf war. In January, all the headstones were broken or flattened or, like that of Pte J Mitchell, of the Cameron Highlanders, engulfed by ants' nests.

A "cemetery task force" including security guards, local people workingh for pay, volunteer history enthusiasts and around 50 marines worked for two weeks on the cemetery. Before any work could begin, the rubbish, dead trees and animal carcasses piled several feet high had to be removed. "It was Natonski's baby," Lt-Col Zangas said. "He said it was a great way to repay our fellow British fighters."

One military source quietly admitted yesterday it was also a way to make up for remarks made by Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, shortly before the war, when he said the US military could fight it without British help.

The battle of Kut, described by T E Lawrence as a "slow-drawn agony", lasted some 143 days. Only 2,000 out of 23,000 men survived.

Yesterday children were swinging on the bent flagpole, leaping over the cracked or broken headstones and throwing stones at dogs under an old memorial arch.

The grave of Pte C B Crook, 27, of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, was being stamped on by one child while another tried to hit it from a distance with sand-coloured dung. The headstone of F C Nash, of the Dorsetshire Regiment, had been broken and a dead brown and white puppy lay next to that of A R S Alexander, of the Indian Medical Service.

Local people outside a shop selling icons of Shi'ite clerics opposite the cemetery said its desecration was not surprising. "We respect the dead, whatever their religion, but the soldiers put up the British flag as if to emphasise that they are occupying us and many men put lots of effort into the restoration," said Abbas Jaber, 32, a glazier.

"At the same time we are suffering from lack of food, electricity and security. If only they put as much effort into sorting these problems out."

Lt Col Zangas admitted that the restoration should not have been given so much import so soon after the war. "It sent out the wrong message, renovating a Christian cemetery when you're occupying a Muslim country," he said