A British Officer’s Words About War Come Back to Haunt Him

His emotional address to British troops to fight fiercely but to treat Iraqi prisoners and civilians humanely brought instant celebrity to British army Lt. Col. Tim Collins at the start of war with Iraq, including praise from President Bush and Britain’s Prince Charles.

But now the charismatic, cigar-chomping battalion commander is under investigation by British authorities for allegedly committing precisely the kind of things he warned his troops against: mistreating Iraqi prisoners and civilians.

The case, which has received widespread media attention in Britain, is causing an unusual split in the ranks of the U.S. military, with a U.S. Army major emerging as Collins’ main accuser and a U.S. Marine major as his main defender.

Army Maj. Re Biastre, a reservist with a public affairs unit, filed the allegations against Collins in April after the two had a verbal confrontation. Biastre’s charges include allegations that Collins on several occasions kicked and hit prisoners, threatened them with summary execution and fired at the feet of civilians who defied his orders.

Biastre has told military officials that he did not witness the alleged brutality but collected information from British and U.S. troops who saw Collins’ behavior but were intimidated into silence by his tough personality, which has earned him the nickname Nails.

To believe the allegations against Collins, however, investigators will have to overcome the passionate objections of Marine Maj. Stan Coerr, who worked closely with Collins as part of the U.S.-British joint command Collins headed. Coerr, a Cobra helicopter pilot, served as a forward air controller in coordinating artillery and airstrikes and was assigned to Collins.

Coerr, interviewed by British investigators before his return to Camp Pendleton last week, insists that Collins, while gruff, never brutalized Iraqis. He blames Biastre for being unable to overcome his embarrassment over being dressed down by Collins in front of U.S. troops.

If the British Defense Ministry finds support for the allegations, Collins, 43, could be court-martialed and drummed out of the army after 22 years of service, including deployments to Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands, and with the elite Special Forces.

As U.S. and British troops began the offensive into Iraq, Collins drew attention when he told troops of the famed Royal Irish Regiment to fight fiercely but, once victorious, to treat Iraqi prisoners with dignity. In Britain, the speech was an overnight sensation.

“There are some [Iraqis] who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly,” Collins thundered. “Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others, I expect you to rock their world.... But if you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory.”

As reported by British journalists traveling with British troops, the speech was exactly the message that officials in Washington and London were stressing: that American and British troops would wage war aggressively but that their real enemy was the regime in Baghdad, not the Iraqi people.

Prince Charles wrote a fan letter to Collins, saying that he was “profoundly moved” by the “extraordinarily stirring, civilized and humane” words. The prince extolled Collins as the epitome of the British soldier, “the best in the world.”

Bush was so impressed with reports of the speech that he ordered a text and reportedly distributed it to top aides as a perfect expression of his own views, particularly the phrase “We fight not to conquer but to liberate.”

In Britain, the press likened Collins’ speech to patriotic passages from Shakespeare’s “Henry V” or the rousing speeches by Winston Churchill during World War II.

“I didn’t see any of these [abusive] incidents and I don’t for a second believe them,” Coerr said in an interview. “The fact is that this whole thing was started by an incompetent officer lashing out at someone who embarrassed him in front of his troops.”

The incident between Biastre and Collins occurred when Biastre, whose unit was assigned to mingle with civilians and begin to understand their needs, was handing out candy to Iraqi children.

Collins had forbidden his troops from handing out food to civilians, in part because he feared it would encourage the Iraqis to rush toward military convoys, posing a danger to themselves and to military personnel. Similar orders were given by Marine commanders elsewhere in Iraq.

Biastre refused to heed the order. After blistering him verbally, Collins ordered the American to stand at attention for 45 minutes.

“The mistake [Biastre] made was telling Collins, ‘You have your job, I have mine,’ ” Coerr said.

Under the U.S.-British agreement, Collins was the senior officer in the sector near the oil field town of Rumaila. Collins’ troops were assigned to maintain control of the region so combat Marines could turn westward and begin the trek toward Baghdad.

Coerr, 35, a reservist who in civilian life is a consultant to the natural gas industry, said Collins’ manner could be intimidating to Iraqis and military personnel alike. But he noted that under Collins, U.S. and British forces did not experience the sniper attacks and ambushes that are now common in occupied Iraq.

“Collins put a lot of people on the streets,” Coerr said. “He made sure villagers knew that there was a new sheriff in town and he was not to be trifled with. But he also made sure they knew he understood and sympathized with what they had been through.”

Collins let former Baath Party loyalists know that his troops would use force if necessary, Coerr said. Among other things, Coerr said, Collins shot out the tires of a suspected looter as a lesson to other would-be thieves.

“He preempted a lot of ugly events, and to do that you have to be forceful,” Coerr said.

In London, the Defense Ministry said last week that the investigation was “ongoing,” declining to comment further. The U.S. Army and the U.S. Central Command also refused to comment.

Collins, who had been selected for promotion to colonel and a plum assignment as liaison to the Pentagon before the allegations were filed, is on leave during the investigation. British investigators and interpreters have sought statements from British soldiers, U.S. soldiers and Marines and dozens of Iraqis. Twenty-one U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton were interviewed.

Collins has said he is innocent and has decried his treatment by investigators.

“I’m being treated as though I should be sitting in the dock at the Nuremberg trials alongside my chums Hermann Goering and Adolf Eichmann,” he told the Times of London.