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Fallon glosses over Iraq was breaches

TORY Defence Secretary Michael Fallon tried yesterday to brush under the carpet evidence that British troops breached international law while serving in Iraq. 

The £25 million al-Sweady inquiry found in its final report that the conduct of some soldiers towards detainees had breached the Geneva convention.

It dismissed, however, the claims it was initially set up to investigate — that Iraqi detainees had been murdered, mutilated and tortured following the Battle of Danny Boy in southern Iraq in 2004. 

The report said the allegations were the product of “deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility.”

And it found that British forces responded to a deadly ambush by insurgents with “exemplary courage, resolution and professionalism.”

Mr Fallon told MPs that the report “puts to rest once and for all these shocking and, as we now know, completely baseless allegations.”

Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker echoed his comments but added that the conduct concerns were “regrettable and unacceptable.”

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