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US concerned about 'milder' British methods in Iraq
The UK's most senior military intelligence officer in Iraq warned that the US was expressing concern about the ineffectiveness of British interrogation methods just as an Iraqi civilian died in British custody, it was disclosed today.
The implication of the warning, revealed in evidence to the inquiry into the death of Basra hotel worker Baha Mousa in 2003, was that the US wanted British forces to adopt tougher techniques even though they were already using methods officially banned by the government.
Lieutenant Colonel Ewan Duncan, who was later promoted to the rank of brigadier and the post of director of the army's Intelligence Corps, warned of American concerns about Britain's "milder" interrogation methods in an email on Sept. 17, 2003, the day after the death of Mousa.
He said concern within the Ministry of Defense over US interrogation methods was so great that it banned UK personnel from American interrogations. This was at the time British intelligence agencies were getting increasing evidence of torture and abuse by US officials and soldiers of terror suspects and Iraqi prisoners.