Corporal Payne comes clean

The British public is once again reeling from the news that its “boys” are guilty of unbecoming contact in foreign climes. The Independent leads with testimony of a British army soldier who has accused a superior and former comrades of the beating and torture of Iraqi prisoners. During an inquiry into the death of Iraqi civilian Baha Mousa in September 2003, former corporal Donald Payne changed his evidence and claimed he and fellow soldiers had “acted out of revenge” over the death of four comrades in southern Iraq. The objects of their revenge, 9 captured Iraqi civilians, were “routinely kicked and punched,” the London daily reports, with Baha Mousa dying from “asphxyiation and 93 separate injuries.” Mr Payne argued that he had covered up the extent of the abuse out of "misguided loyalty". He previously claimed he had only “nudged” or “slapped” detainees.