INDIAN INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH INTO TRUE HISTORY
NEWSLETTER NO. 43 OF
We are sorry that
we could not produce newsletters in October 2004 and February 2005.
1. NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
1.1
Rationalism of Veer Savarkar.
Copies of the
book have now reached Shree Godbole in
You can purchase
your copy from him, price £8 including postage.
We have also
heard that our friends in
Copies are
available in the
Publicity
Our friend Rajiv
Varma had organised a Human Empowerment Conference
(HEC) in
On the phone link
Godbole the reasons for the above book -
* Very little of
Savarkar’s writings are in English. He therefore remains much maligned and
misunderstood leader. This book is an attempt to address this deficiency. For
example his relations with leaders form Justice Ranade to Subhash Chandra Bose
are almost unknown.
* Even Savarkar’s
staunchest followers are unaware that he was a Rationalist. Rationalism is a
tremendous force. Over the centuries we Hindus have lost that force. When faced
with invaders, Chinese built the Great Wall. What did the Hindus do? Nothing.
We must acquire the ability to collect and analyse data and decide a course of
action when faced with a problem. One must remember that Rationalism does not
mean laughing at believes of our forefathers.
* We need to
learn from our history. But many facts are still unknown. Not enough research
has been done and many events are not properly explained especially in the
period 1906-1966. In my book I have shown how the British manipulated Gandhi’s
fast in 1943 and the INA trials, to ensure success of Congress in the elections
of 1945/46.
* My book
highlights Savarkar’s contribution to our freedom struggle and social reforms
including removal of untouchability.
Savarkar always
emphasised us to be doers. He said, “ I am tired of plans, debates, seminars,
discussions, articles. What we want is ACTION. WE want people to put theory
into practice.”
Savarkar told us
to look at world events from the point of view of Hindus, whether it is German
re-unification; US led war in
Savarkar also
asked us to be realists and not daydreamers.
Finally Savarkar
has given a wonderful Mantra – remember that under present circumstances
adverse will happen. That would be the norm. Bear this in mind, carry on with
your work. You do your duty.
Godbole’s
explanation was appreciated by the audience.
1.2
Museum in Mumbai dedicated to Indian Revolutionaries.
In July 2004,
Suhas Bahulkar, a painter from Mumbai went to
Bahulkar is
involved in the proposed Museum in Mumbai dedicated to Indian Revolutionaries
and it has wide support. He met Godbole twice and also had many discussions on
phone. Bahulkar was very grateful for the information given and suggestions
made by Shree Godbole.
He met our friend
Shree Raghavan of
On his return to
Mumbai Bahulkar contacted Shree Milind Gadgil, President of the Committee for
the Museum. Gadgil too was very pleased to have made contact with Godbole. We
hope to hear further from the members of the museum committee.
On 20 February
Godbole sent his extensive comments on the brochures produced by Museum
Committee and suggested what documents need to be collected for the museum. Mr
Gadgil replied, ”Thanks very much for your comments. They will be put to our
committee for consideration.”
In case you wish
to visit the proposed Museum the address is –
SWATANTRYA VEER
SAVARKAR – RASHTRIYA SMARAK
252 Veer Savarkar
Marg
Opposite
Dadar (West)
Mumbai 400,028
Telephone Number
022-2446-5877
The office is
open
Please consider
how you can help this important project. For example, by supplying old books,
reports, paper cuttings, articles in magazines, photographs and songs. If you
are in Mumbai or able to visit Mumbai often, there are many other ways in which
you can help, for example compiling information, cataloguing.
In January 2005,
Godbole managed to acquire a book entitled ‘
It was not just a
book on the episode. On 1st January every year the British
Government decides to open to public files, which have been kept secret till
then. Most are kept in the Public Record Office at
1.2.1 Sources
of Information
British
Library,
* In this
connection Godbole informed Bahulkar that the issues of The Times (of
Of course we must
always guard against the prejudices of the Englishmen and serious mistakes they
have made, but it is still a very useful tool. Unfortunately one has to go to
the British Library at
* Secret Files
in
One has to admire
the British for keeping meticulous records. Godbole was informed of some Secret
Files by Shree Vasantrao Pandav of
I'm writing in reply to your email to Mrs Dipali
Ghosh about the Quarterly Survey of Political and Constitutional Position of
British India from 1937 to 1947.
The surveys from 1937-1946 are available for
consultation at the India Office Records shelfmarks:
IOR/L/PJ/7/1813 File 1190 Pt I: Quarterly survey of political
and constitutional position in
IOR/L/PJ/7/1814 File 1190 Pt 1A: Quarterly survey of political
and constitutional position in
IOR/L/PJ/7/1815 File
1190 Pt II: Quarterly survey
of political and constitutional
position in
IOR/L/PJ/7/1816 File
1190 Pt III: Quarterly surveys of political and constitutional position in
They are also available on microfilm at IOR Neg
13911-13916
If you wish to order copies, please contact our
Reproductions service, the details of which are on our website at http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/reproduction.html
Yours sincerely
Dr Jill GEBER
Senior Archivist,
and Curator of
The British Library
Godbole had
been through all the above files and made notes. However, the files for the
period May 1946 to August 1947 are missing. Dr Geber replied that they may be
somewhere in the Index but she has no time to locate them.
History
behind these reports –
As per
Government of India Act 1935, Governors of all provinces and Chief
Commissioners were required to send their fortnightly reports to the Viceroy
and the Chief Secretaries of all Governors were also required to send their
fortnightly reports to the Secretary, Home Office of Viceroy’s council. The
Viceroy then compiled Quarterly Reports for submission to the Secretary of
State for
Reports from
September 1939 onwards were so sensitive that even the members of the Viceroy’s
Council were not allowed to see them. There is a letter from Viceroy Lord
Linlithgow to Secretary of State for
On further
research, Godbole realised that fortnightly reports covering the period 1937 to
1947 are available in the India Office Library. They are under the series
L/P&J/5/ 128 to 304 and cover all the provinces. For example, L/P&J/5/167
covers
Events after
August 1947 are covered by weekly and fortnightly reports of the British High
Commission and Deputy High Commissions. These are –
L/P&J/5/305
to 308
L/P&J/5/309
L/P&J/5/310
to 314
L/P&J/5/315
to 320
L/P&J/5/321
to 329
L/P&J/5/330
and 3331
L/P&J/5/332
to 336
These files
provide valuable information indeed.
* Having
studied these files Godbole decided to go through the list of all the files.
Here is the gist of his work so far -
L/P&J/1 –
Minutes of the Revenue, Judicial and Legislative Committees 1834 to 1859
Reports of the
Revenue, Judicial and Legislative Committees 1834 to 1859
L/P&J/2 –
Public Home Correspondence etc
L/P&J/3 –
Correspondence with
L/P&J/4 –
‘Put by’ papers 1871-79.
L/P&J/5/ 1
to 127 – Bills and Acts, opinions of officials, petitions, correspondence,
debates in Councils and Legislative Assembly
L/P&J/5/
128 to 304 – Fortnightly reports of Governors, Chief Commissioners and Chief
Secretaries, 1937 to 1948
L/P&J/5/
305 to 336 – Weekly and Fortnightly Reports from British High Commissioners and
Deputy High Commissioners, 1947 to 1950
L/P&J/5/
337 to 473 – Compilations and Miscellaneous
The files then
continue under L/P&J/6/ - these are
contained in some eight volumes.
There is
information on many subjects.
There are
files relating to Rambhau Mandlik, Justice Ranade, Telang, Dr Bhandarkar,
Dadabhai Naoroji and Banerjee.
Other subjects
are – migration into tea plantations of
Recruitment to
Indian Civil Service – also cases of dismissal of even British officers for
corruption or incompetence.
Penal
settlements of Andaman and Nicobar.
Conditions in
Indian jails, including mortality, corporal punishments. and also diet of
prisoners.
Reports of
Police on Railways.
Rampa
outbreaks of 1879-80
Santhal
rebellion.
Report of
Sedition Committee of 1918 including passages omitted from published version.
Moplah
Rebellion of 1921
Mopla outbreak
of 1881
Questions
about
More about
this in another newsletter.
1.3 Savarkar :
Some unknown facts
We mentioned this
in our Newsletter 40 of
If you wish to
have an updated copy please contact Godbole.
1.4
Followers of Gandhi pay tribute to Savarkar.
Late Purushottam
Laxman Deshpande, a well known multitalented person from
Late Barrister
Vitthalrao Gadgil was a veteran Congressman. He served as a Minister in
cabinets of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. He too had paid glowing tributes to
Savarkar. Godbole has translated his article in English. Copy of the same is
attached with this newsletter.
2. AROUND
Three tours were organised. by Shree Godbole
* First one was on
Dr Ambekar and Sau Ambekar of
Shree and Sau Navare from
Prof Sovani and his wife from
Shree Vishwanath Apte and his wife from Croydon.
* Second tour was on10 October 2004.
The participants were 16 teachers from Hindusthan, Dr Bedekar, Dr
Agarkar and two couples from
* Third tour was on
The participants were 13 teachers and two couples visiting from
Hindusthan, and a young couple from
Godbole has been constantly revising detailed description of the
tour. Arunkumar Kholkute of
Dr Agarkar of
Kalyan conducted two slide shows –
* First one was
at Sarvajanik Vachanalaya (Public Library) at Kalyan on the eve of Independence
Day of Hindusthan (that is on
* The second show
was on
It was arranged
in Navbharat Education Society's (NES)
3. BEHAVIOUR OF CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS TODAY
3.1 THE CHRISTIANS
We can understand
Christians of various denominations paying their tribute to the dead Pope, but
must express dismay at the tributes paid by members of Hindu Council
Hindu Council
UK received several
tributes to Pope John Paul II from its Executive representing major national
Umbrella bodies of all the
"In world
history, Pope John Paul the 2nd would stand tall as a figure who represented
steadfastness and humility, his spiritual convictions never wavered under any
media or political pressures."
Anil
Bhanot, General Secretary, Hindu Council
"In my
meeting with him I felt he tried to reach out to understand Hinduism and I came
out of the meeting feeling very happy."
Dr V P
N Rao, Inter faith Chair of Hindu council
"Under his
leadership I have received messages of love and goodwill on Diwali every
year"
Dr J C
Sharma, Chair of the Trust of Hindu Council
"Pope John
Paul II was able to cross religious boundaries and engage in meaningful
dialogue between various faiths."
O P
Sharma MBE, President of national Council of Hindu Temples of
"He was also
a champion for peace and worked with great humility and constancy of purpose to
bring about reconciliation between religious groups." Dr Sritharan, Chairman of the Federation of shaiva Temples
(Sri Lankan)
"Jains of
Europe send heartfelt condolences to the Catholics throughout the world for the
loss of one of the greatest spiritual leaders of the world. He was a living
example of the values, which we Jains cherish, such as the non-violence, peace,
forgiveness, compassion, equality and respect for other faith traditions, and
also the preservation of the Christian traditions. We pray for the peace of his
soul! "
Dr
Natubhai Shah, Chairman of Jain Samaj Europe, representing Jain Temples
"We were
always impressed with his human rights stand at various world events, including
the
Harmohinder
Singh Bhatia - Upashak, representing the Nirankari Sikh Gurudwaras
"Hindus
share in the grief of the Catholic multitude."
Jay
Dilip Lakhani, Chair of Education Executive representing the Vivekananda Centre
"Although
the Pope travelled globally to spread his mission, he also tried to understand
all cultures."
Veni
Lal Vaghela, Parliamentary Lobby Director of Hindu Council
"I join in
your genuine feelings about the departure of a soul."
Dr H V
S Shastry, Scriptures Executive of Hindu Council
"As Hinduism
believes that whole world is one family, all the Hindus would join me to convey
our condolences to the Roman Catholic community."
Suraj
Sehgal, Chair of the Defence Relations Executive of Hindu Council
"Pope John
Paul II was a great religious leader and we as Hindus should express sorrow on
his death. We hope a cross religious dialogue will increase in this global
village."
Satya
Minhas, Pluralism Executive of Hindu Council
"He
travelled all over the world to see his congregation first hand. He learnt
number of languages (though a few words- especially Hindi, Korean, Japanese..)
to win attention of peoples where he went."
Ramesh
Jhalla, Special Project Executive of Hindu council
"This was
the first Pope who tried to cross barriers and that is welcoming for the modern
world"
C.
Gopaul, President of the Mauritian Hindu Society
"I feel that
the Pope did wonders for the humanity causes affecting Christians but as a
Kashmiri Hindu refugee I wish a man of his influence just went one further step
to see to look at issues affecting other religious people, especially when they
are left alone and vulnerable."
Sunil
Bakshi, Human Rights executive of Hindu council
"It is
always a great loss at the demise of a person of such influence on so many
people. It is only Hindus who would feel that for a leader of another religious
belief system and we will continue to wish that the doors to dialogue are
opened in every corner.
Jaimin
Patel, Public Relations Executive of Hindu Council
We ask just one
question – Whenever Pope John Paul II visited
The new German
Pope called himself Pope Benedict XVI. Newspaper reports said that he wants
unity among Christians and wants to reach out to other religions, but if we
read carefully we realise that he only wants to talk to Jews, Muslims and
non-Catholic Christians. We cannot find the word Hindu anywhere in the news.
Has he invited any Hindu leaders for a talk? He wants to convert all Hindus to
Christianity if he could. There is no way a single Muslim would be converted,
because then that Muslim will face the death penalty!!
In March 2005, we
received interesting news from one of our friends.
By Mike Seccombe
and Linda Morris
Sydney Morning
Herald
Thirty of
The Federal
Government has made the move quietly as it searches for a face-saving way to
soften its policy on failed asylum seekers who have been in custody for more
than three years, and cannot be repatriated to their countries of origin.
It follows strong
lobbying efforts by several Government backbenchers, churches and the powerful
Family First party for the Government to relax its refugee policy for Christian
converts.
It also follows
the case of one convert, deported from Baxter detention centre last October
within a week after the election, and promptly interrogated in
The case was
taken up by Family First, whose spokeswoman, Andrea Mason, described the action
as "repugnant". The Government is keen to build bridges with Family
First, which controls one vital vote in the Senate, where the Government has a
majority of a single vote.
Previously, the
Immigration Department has viewed conversions to Christianity with suspicion.
But yesterday a spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone,
confirmed the only reason for reconsidering the 30 cases was their new
religion.
"All these
people had exhausted the [assessment and appeals] process and failed. Once you
have exhausted the process and failed, you're over. You've had your go and
that's it," he said.
"To apply
again onshore, the minister has to make a decision under section 48 of the act
to lift the bar. That’s what has happened in this case; the bar was lifted
about two weeks ago."
Asked what had
changed in the detainees' circumstances to warrant such reconsideration, he
said: "Just that they brought new information that they've converted to
Christianity and that they want their claim – that they may be persecuted if
returned - to be examined."
He said all 30
were "all unauthorised boat arrivals", mostly from
Cabinet is
considering whether to release about 120 inmates who have been detained for
more than three years. These are asylum seekers whose claims have been
rejected, but who cannot be returned to their home countries for a variety of
reasons.
Sources yesterday
suggested this could be done either by devising a new form of temporary visa,
or by the more lenient use of ministerial discretion. The reconsideration of
religious conversion claims appears to be a move in the latter direction.
In the case of
Iranians, who make up the bulk of long-term detainees, religion becomes an
issue because the theocratic government there makes renouncing Islam a crime.
The president of
the
In the past
month, he said, the Government seemed to be "far more open to
requests" for the applications to be reconsidered. "I don't think
there has been a change of policy but the minister has the power to intervene
and provide a reassessment of cases and I think the minister's been doing
that."
The Anglican
Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, has recently intervened in the case of Amir
Mesrinejad, a refugee from
The committee
said the Government seemed intent on reducing the provisions of the United
Nations Convention on Refugees, to which
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jyotishi
Comments – once
the Muslims are granted asylum, there is nothing to prevent them from embracing
Islam again at a convenient time in future. They will definitely claim their
right to do so under freedom to practise religion of one’s choice.
3.2.2 Muslim
who went AWOL from RAF loses case
A Muslim
reservist who refused to wage war in
Aircraftsman and
medic Mohisin Khan went to the High Court in an attempt to overturn his RAF
conviction. But the judges, sitting in
(Metro paper of
3.2.3 Marriage
code for Indian Muslims
Islamic leaders
yesterday published a marriage code for Muslims to stop women being
discriminated against. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board said it was
unfair that men were allowed to instantly divorce their wives while the process
was far more difficult for women. Their guidelines propose couples heading for
a break-up should instead ‘seek a forum of arbitration.’ The board, which rules
on Islamic Law, took three years to approve the code. But the rules are not
legally binding in secular
(Metro paper of
3.2.4
Shias and Sunnis at each other’s throat again.
At least 39
people were killed and more than 100 injured yesterday as two bombs exploded in
the city of
(Metro paper of
3.2.5 Mutual
genocide in
A state of
emergency was declared yesterday in a region where hundreds have died in ethnic
violence. President Olusegun Obasanjo said there was a ‘near mutual genocide’
in the state of Plateau, where Muslims and Christians have clashed over land
and cattle. He removed governor Joshua Dariye from power, accusing him of being
weak and incompetent, and appointed retired Maj Gen Chris Ali in his place.
Emergency powers give the president the right to rule by decree. Mr Obasanjo
visited Plateau last week and was involved in angry exchanges with religious
leaders, who accused him of doing little to stop the violence.
(Metro paper of
3.2.6 Mother
must marry man who raped her
A mother is being
forced to marry her father-in-law because he raped her. Imrana Mohammed - whose marriage of ten years has apparently
been nullified under Islamic law – must leave her husband Noor. After a special
village meeting, the 28-year-old was ordered to desert her five children and
live with her parental family for seven months and ten days before moving in
with her father-in-law and his wife. Leaders in her home
(Metro paper of
3.2.7 Woman
stoned to death in
A young mother
was stoned to death by her father and husband in
The public
execution is a shocking reminder of the barbaric punishments that were
routinely handed out under the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
The 29-year-old
woman’s lover was allowed to go free after a whipping, police in the remote far
The killing,
carried out after a local warlord gave his go-ahead, was believed to have been
stoned to death in
Human rights
groups say rape; murder and abductions are common in many parts of
It was not clear
how many children Amina had. Her lover, named as Mohammed Karim, was whipped
100 times.
General Shah
Jahan Noori, police chief for the province, said;’She has been stoned to
death.’ He said the couple had been having an affair for some time, adding,
“this was a big scandal” A police team had been sent to the area to investigate
further.
Witness Mujibur
Rahman said Amina was dragged out of her parent’s house by local officials and
her husband before being killed.
There are claims
that she had requested a separation from her husband on the grounds that he
could not support her. He had recently returned to his village after five years
living as a refugee in
Nader Nadery, of
the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, said investigators from his
organisation were also trying to reach the village.
He said; ‘Our
information is that a warlord was consulted before this execution. Many of
these commanders feel they are authorised to make life and death decisions.’
There are no
reliable figures for the number of women killed by stoning during the Taliban’s
five-year regime, but Mr Nadery said at least two were stoned to death in
public in
In many areas of
Afghanistan women still wear al-covering burkhas and are trained from childhood
to turn away if a man who is not a relative walks past.
(Daily Mail. 25
April 2005, p22)
Savarkar
was right after all. The BBC confesses.
BBC Radio 4
broadcasted an interesting programme on
The transcript
reads –
Housed in a vault
in an obscure music library in
This would not be
noteworthy except for the year 1942, which is clearly written on the old vinyl
disc. This was in the middle of World War II and not a time for jolly
renditions of other countries national songs.
Not, that is,
unless it was the anthem of an ally. Yet
Mike Thompson
investigates the little known story of the Free India Legion made up of
thousands of soldiers from the sub-continent that donned German uniforms and
marched with the Nazis.
Recruited by the
Indian Revolutionary leader, Chandra Bose, they teamed up with
Mike Thompson
follows their footsteps and talks to surviving members of the legion, German
soldiers who fought with them and French resistance men who fought against
them.
In
the closing stages of World War II, as Allied and French resistance forces were
driving Hitler’s now demoralised forces from France, three senior German
officers defected. The information they gave British Intelligence was
considered so sensitive that in 1945 it was locked away, not due to be released
until the year 2021.
Now, 17 years
early, the BBC’s Documentary programme has been given special access to this
secret file.
It reveals how
thousands of Indian soldiers who had joined
The story the
German officers told their interrogators began in
Six months later,
with the help of the German foreign ministry, he had set up what he called
“Free India Centre”, from where he published leaflets, wrote speeches and
organised broadcasts in support of his cause.
By the end of
1941, Hitler’s regime officially recognised his provisional “Free India
Government” in exile, and even agreed to help Chandra Bose raise an army to
fight for the cause. It was to be called “The Free India Legion”.
Bose hoped to
raise a force of about 100,000 men which, when armed and kitted out by the
Germans, could be used to invade
He decided to
raise them by going on recruiting visits to Prisoner-of-War camps in
Finally, by
August 1942, Bose’s recruitment drive got fully into swing. Mass ceremonies
were held in which dozens of Indian POWs joined in mass oaths of allegiance to
Adolf Hitler.
These were words
that were used by men that had formally sworn an oath to the British king; “ I
swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and
leader Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight
for
I (the presenter)
managed to track down one of Bose’s former recruits, Lieutenant Barwant Singh,
who can still remember the Indian revolutionary arriving at his prisoner of war
camp.
“ He was
introduced to us as a leader from our country who wanted to talk to us,” he
said. “ He wanted 500 volunteers who would be trained in
In all 3,000
Indian prisoners of war signed up for the Free India Legion.
But instead of
being delighted, Bose was worried. A left-wing admirer of
Matters were made
even worse by the fact that after
When the Indian
revolutionary met Hitler in May 1942 his suspicions were confirmed, and he came
to believe that the Nazi leader was more interested in using his men to win
propaganda victories than military ones.
So, in February
1943, Bose turned his back on his legionaries and slipped secretly away abroad
a submarine bound for
Back in
After D-Day the
Free India Legion, which had been drafted into Himmler’s Waffen SS, were in
headlong retreat through
Their German
military translator at the time was Private Rudolf Hartog, who is now 80. “The
last day we were together an armoured tank appeared, I thought, my goodness,
what can I do? I’m finished,” he said.
“But he only
wanted to collect the Indians. We embraced each other and cried. You see that
was the end.”
A year later the
Indian legionnaires were sent back to
But when the
British put three senior officers on trial near
With
the British now aware that the Indian army could no longer be relied upon by
the Raj to do its bidding.
Not that Subhas
Chandra Bose was to see the he had fought so hard for. He died in 1945.
Since then little
has been heard of Lieutenant Barwant Singh and his fellow legionnaires.
At the end of
the war the BBC was forbidden from broadcasting their story and this remarkable
saga was locked away in the archives, until now. Not that Lieutenant Singh has ever forgotten those
dramatic days.
“In front of my
eyes I can see how we all looked, how we would all sing and how we all talked
about what eventually would happen to us all,” he said.
Comments – BBC
has always praised Gandhi and Nehru and despised Indian revolutionaries.
Against this background it was indeed remarkable that it did NOT call Bose or
the Indian soldiers as Quislings or Neo-Nazis. It recognised that they all
wanted freedom for
We salute the
BBC.
5.
Why we cannot tell the truth.
Many times our
people still ask us, “If your research on Taj Mahal is true, why don’t the
Indian historians support you?” Well, there are always many reasons why people
cannot tell the truth. Here is an example –
On
VICTIM OF HATE
A young mum told
last night how she had to quit her job to escape hate mail after exposing
soldiers who abused Iraqi prisoners. The terrifying poison pen onslaught nearly
wrecked whistleblower Kelly Tilford’s life – and she even had to change her
appearance.
Former photo shop
girl Kelly, 23, said; “! Have paid a high price for doing the decent thing.”
She spoke as three soldiers from the Royal Regiments of Fusiliers faced jail
after “torture” courts martial.
Corporal Daniel
Kenyon, 33, and Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, were convicted yesterday of
offences relating to ill-treatment of looters.
Lance Corporal
Darren Larkin, 30, had previously admitted assaulting a prisoner.
A fourth soldier
Fusilier Gary Bartlam, 20, is serving 18 months after admitting taking shocking
photos of the abuse. An investigation began after he took his vile snaps to be
developed at the shop in
Horrified
Kelly said,
“Nobody in their right mind could have turned a blind eye after seeing the
horrified expressions on the faces of the Iraqi prisoners seen being tortured
in those snaps. I could never have been able to look at myself in the mirror
again if I hadn’t alerted people to the contents of that roll of film. There is
no way I regret it – but I do regret the consequences it brought for me and my
family. I was stunned by the reaction of some people. The hate mail started
within 48 hours of the news breaking that I raised the alarm. It was nasty and
scary. They were handwritten in brightly coloured envelopes. Some were
addressed to Tit TaleTilford.”
“They called me a
grass, a snitch, a bitch and lot worse – they were riddled with swear words.
They attacked me for reporting a lad who had been risking his life for our
country. I realised that whoever was writing them knew what I looked like
because my picture had appeared in the paper. There were some notes of support,
praising my guts for coming forward but the hate mail shocked and frightened
me.”
“I felt
vulnerable and was terrified to leave the house. I was scared of bumping into
the Fusilier and his family – they only live a few miles away. We also have
Willington Barracks nearby and soldiers often go drinking and socialising in
this town. Every customer who came into the shop put me on edge. I kept
wondering, ‘Is this one?’ The pressure kept mounting day after day and I
realised I had to keep my sanity. I quit the job, dyed my hair and altered the
length with extensions.”
Kelly married
long-time boy friend Garry, 24, last July. The couple have two children, a boy
aged four and a two-year old girl. She had been working at the photo shop for
just a few months when Bartlam dropped in a roll of film to be developed within
an hour in May 2003.
He wanted 7in by
5in prints from the 25 exposures but the £5.99 job rapidly developed into a
major crisis for the British Army.
Kelly who now
works in a tele sales office and as a nail technician, went on,”I had no idea
what I as starting. I just thought they’d talk to the Fusilier and punish him
and that would be the end of it. But it became a worldwide scandal.”
She went on,
“There were obviously some bad apples among the allied forces in
Details of the
shocking abuse came to light during a 22-day court martial in
.. Kenyon and
Cooley – neither showed any emotion as they stood to attention while the
verdict was read.
….. Joseph Giret,
representing Kenyon claimed there was much more to the case than met the eye.
He suggested Kenyon and his comrades were scapegoats for a wider problem in the
camp – and that senior soldiers and officers were aware of and effectively
condoned the acts.
In another column
the Sun reported, ”Officers see their careers boosted”
The soldiers were
convicted after two trials – but not one officer was charged over Camp Bread
Basket. And exactly who ordered what remains a mystery despite a £1 million
case.
No officer has
been brought to book over the illegal order to make the captured looters work.
In fact, two – acting Major Dan Taylor and Lt Colonel David Paterson have been
promoted.
… Sergeant Major
Wilton Brown was alleged to have given a direct order to “beast” prisoners. He
has been promoted to Regimental Sergeant Major of a West Midlands Territorial
unit.
Comment - Now you
know why we cannot tell the truth in these days even in a western democratic
country.