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Article: A very British massacre: David Anderson, Huw Bennett and Daniel Branch believe that the Freedom of Information Act is being used to protect the perpetrators of a war crime that took place in Kenya fifty years ago.(CROSS CURRENT)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- August 1, 2006
- Author:
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WITH MEMBERS OF A US MARINE unit facing courts martial following the deaths of twenty-four Iraqi civilians at Al-Haditha, accusations of an attempted 'cover-up' have become as significant as the atrocity itself. Concealment implies complicity, and if American military commanders are shown to have knowingly concealed the truth about the massacre, then the political damage within Iraq could be irreparable.
The US commanders in Iraq are not the first to be confronted with the dilemma of whether to face up to a military atrocity, or bury the story along with the bodies. Fifty years ago, when Britain was fighting colonial wars in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, concealment ...