Ben Griffin (former British soldier)
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Griffin is a former British SAS
soldier who refused to return to Iraq and left the Army, citing not only the "illegal" tactics of United States
troops and the policies of coalition forces but also that the invasion itself was illegal, being contrary to international law. He expected to be court-martialled, but was instead let go with a glowing testimonial from his commanding officer. He had previously served a three month tour in Baghdad
alongside American forces, including Delta force
personnel.
In an interview for the Sunday Telegraph
, he told Defence Correspondent Sean Rayment:
Commenting in similar vein to another former British SAS soldier, Griffin also gives his account of how the Americans view Iraqis:
He is quoted in an article in The Scotsman
as saying:
On 26 September 2011 he appeared on Press TV
, the Iran
-based and funded English language news channel, and criticised the UK armed forces recruitment policy for 'targeting child soldiers.'
In November 2011 he joined the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest encampment outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, with another Veterans For Peace
member, Matthew Horne
.
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
soldier who refused to return to Iraq and left the Army, citing not only the "illegal" tactics of United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
troops and the policies of coalition forces but also that the invasion itself was illegal, being contrary to international law. He expected to be court-martialled, but was instead let go with a glowing testimonial from his commanding officer. He had previously served a three month tour in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
alongside American forces, including Delta force
Delta Force
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta is one of the United States' secretive Tier One counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units. Commonly known as Delta Force, Delta, or The Unit, it was formed under the designation 1st SFOD-D, and is officially referred to by the Department of Defense...
personnel.
In an interview for the Sunday Telegraph
Sunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
, he told Defence Correspondent Sean Rayment:
The Americans had this catch-all approach to lifting suspects. The tactics were draconian and completely ineffective. The Americans were doing things like chucking farmers into Abu GhraibAbu GhraibThe city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
or handing them over to the Iraqi authorities, knowing full well they were going to be tortured.
The Americans had a well-deserved reputation for being trigger happy. In the three months that I was in Iraq, the soldiers I served with never shot anybody. When you asked the Americans why they killed people, they would say 'we were up against the tough foreign fighters'. I didn't see any foreign fighters in the time I was over there.
I can remember coming in off one operation which took place outside Baghdad, where we had detained some civilians who were clearly not insurgents, they were innocent people. I couldn't understand why we had done this, so I said to my troop commander 'would we have behaved in the same way in the Balkans or Northern Ireland?' He shrugged his shoulders and said 'this is Iraq', and I thought 'and that makes it all right?'
As far as I was concerned that meant that because these people were a different colour or a different religion, they didn't count as much. You cannot invade a country pretending to promote democracy and behave like that.
Commenting in similar vein to another former British SAS soldier, Griffin also gives his account of how the Americans view Iraqis:
As far as the Americans were concerned, the Iraqi people were sub-human, untermenschUntermenschUntermensch is a term that became infamous when the Nazi racial ideology used it to describe "inferior people", especially "the masses from the East," that is Jews, Gypsies, Poles along with other Slavic people like the Russians, Serbs, Belarussians and Ukrainians...
en. You could almost split the Americans into two groups: ones who were complete crusaderCrusadesThe Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
s, intent on killing Iraqis, and the others who were in Iraq because the Army was going to pay their college fees. They had no understanding or interest in the Arab culture. The Americans would talk to the Iraqis as if they were stupid and these weren't isolated cases, this was from the top down. There might be one or two enlightened officers who understood the situation a bit better, but on the whole that was their general attitude. Their attitude fuelled the insurgency. I think the Iraqis detested them.
He is quoted in an article in The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
as saying:
"I saw a lot of things in Baghdad that were illegal or just wrong. 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."
On 26 September 2011 he appeared on Press TV
Press TV
Press TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
, the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
-based and funded English language news channel, and criticised the UK armed forces recruitment policy for 'targeting child soldiers.'
In November 2011 he joined the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest encampment outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London, with another Veterans For Peace
Veterans for Peace
Veterans For Peace is a United States organization founded in 1985. Made up of male and female US military veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and other conflicts, as well as peacetime veterans, the group works to promote alternatives to war.-Foundation:The...
member, Matthew Horne
Matthew Horne
Matthew Jeffery Horne is a New Zealand cricketer who played in 35 Tests and 50 ODIs from 1997 - 2003....
.