Just an article I picked up from UK news. It is a different world today. In the past, as recent as World War 2, looters who were caught can be summarily executed. Now, you are in deep trouble if you even handle them roughly.
British Soldiers Face Court Martial
Court martial: The British servicemen will face trial in this country rather than at The Hague
Three British servicemen are to face a court martial after being charged with the war crime of inhuman treatment of detainees in Iraq.
The three are the first British troops to be charged with a war crime under the terms of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.
One of those charged under the Act, Corporal Donald Payne, 34, also faces an allegation of manslaughter.
They are among 11 servicemen charged in connection with two separate cases arising from incidents in Iraq.
In the second case, four servicemen are charged with manslaughter.
Lord Goldsmith says the prosecutions of the British servicemen are in the public interest
Although charged under the 2001 Act, the three servicemen involved in the first case will face proceedings before a military tribunal in this country rather than be tried by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
The ICC's jurisdiction is based on the principle that it can only exercise that jurisdiction when a state is unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute.
In a written parliamentary statement issued last night, the Attorney Genera,l Lord Goldsmith, said that the Army Prosecuting Authority decided that in case one, seven servicemen should face a court martial.
Colonel Jorge Mendonca, 41, the highly decorated commanding officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment in Iraq at the time of the incident, who is now part of the Army's General Staff, is charged with negligently performing a duty contrary to the Army Act 1955.
The case relates to incidents in the southern Iraqi city of Basra between 13-15 September 2003.
Killed: Baha Musa, holding one of his children, was allegedly beaten to death while in custody
The accused are alleged to have committed a number of offences against Iraqi detainees who were arrested following a planned operation.
One of the detainees, hotel receptionist Baha Da'oud Salim Mousa, was allegedly inhumanely treated and killed by Corporal Payne, also of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
Corporal Payne is also alleged to have inhumanely treated other detainees.
He now faces charges of manslaughter, inhuman treatment of persons - the ICC Act offence - and perverting the course of justice.
It is further alleged that two other members of the regiment - Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 21, and Private Darren Fallon, 22 - inhumanely treated internees, who sustained injuries following repeated assaults.
They too have been charged under the ICC Act.
A fourth regiment member, Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 28, is alleged to have assaulted a detainee and faces a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm, alternatively common assault.
Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 36, and Major Michael Peebles, 34, both of the Intelligence Corps, are charged with neglecting to perform a duty and negligently performing a duty respectively.
Lord Goldsmith said that cases against all seven were reviewed by prosecutors at the Army Prosecuting Authority, which was satisfied that there is "a realistic prospect of convicting all defendants and that the prosecutions are in the public interest'.'
In the second case, the authority directed that four servicemen should stand trial for the manslaughter of Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali, another Iraqi civilian.
That allegation relates to an incident in Basra on 8 May 2003. It is alleged that the four servicemen detained four suspected looters, including Mr Ali.
The servicemen allegedly punched and kicked the looters before forcing them into the Shat Al-Basra canal. Mr Ali, who could not swim, drowned.
Three of those charged are Sergeant Carle Selman, 38, of the Scots Guards; Guardsman Martin McGing, 21; and Guardsman Joseph McCleary, 23, both of the Irish Guards.
Another 21-year-old Lance Corporal, also with the Irish Guards, has yet to be informed of the charge against him and has not yet been named.
In a statement on the Baha Mousa case, the Defence Secretary, Dr John Reid, said: "British Armed Forces... do an exceptional job in very difficult circumstances and operate to the very highest standards, as the British public rightly expects.
"This is precisely why, if there are allegations that UK armed forces personnel have failed to maintain these high standards, they should be properly investigated and, if appropriate, prosecutions should be brought.
"Anyone accused is innocent until proved guilty and it is for the courts martial to consider the evidence in any case and reach a verdict.'
Just last Thursday, senior retired officers who now sit in the House of Lords voiced deep concerns about the number of investigations into alleged offences by British servicemen in Iraq.
Earlier this year, a military review body reduced the sentences of two soldiers imprisoned for abusing Iraqi civilians in a case that drew comparisons with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal involving US forces.
Their trials in Germany focused on photographs taken of the abuse, which included dangling one man from a forklift.
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, members of which face charges in relation to the Baha Mousa case, previously found itself at the centre of a furore after the Daily Mirror printed photographs, later discredited, purporting to show its soldiers abusing Iraqi civilians.