NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE This week the MOD has announced that it is to establish military reserve forces in the Crown Dependency (a colony of the British Crown) the Isle of Man. So what sort of role can they be expected to play? Well what about killing innocent people for a start? Here?s a video which was played at the enquiry into the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi civilian who died in the custody of the British Army in Basra in 2003. A 1,400 page report said a large number of soldiers assaulted Mousa and that many others, including officers, must have known about the abuse. The report called his death an appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence. The inquiry condemned the Ministry of Defence for corporate failure and the regiment for a lack of moral courage to report abuse. Of course Mousa is just a comparatively recent ?casualty? of British Army peacekeeping. When the Anti-Militarist Alliance was established on the Isle of Man in the 1970s it was partly in response to the killing in Co. Armagh, Ireland, of 12 year old schoolgirl Majella O?Hare who was shot (three shots were fired, two hit her in the back) while on her way to church in August 1976 by a member of the parachute Regiment. In March 2011 the Ministry of Defence finally apologised to her family. A letter, signed by the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, belatedly corrected the army's account of the incident at the time and acknowledged that the soldier's subsequent courtroom explanation was unlikely (see link). J B Moffatt (Mr) Director of Information Celtic League 12/05/15 (Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.) ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE. The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues Download our News App for Android here. Internet site at: (voir le site) (voir le site) Share this!