In June last year Ulverston town council voted on a motion to bestow Freedom of the town to the Queens Lancashire regiment. That night a number of members of the public present at that meeting voiced some very strong reasons why we should reject this motion. One of the prime reasons why we should not bestow this honour was the alleged implication of some members of that regiment in the torture and subsequent death of Baha Mousa. As we all know the motion was carried by 14 votes to one against, I was the voice in the wilderness.
Today we have a damming report was delivered after a year long inquiry headed by chairman, Sir William Gage.
At the heart of this is the death of Baha Mousa. Sir William makes it clear that this cannot be explained away as being simply the act of a few rogue soldiers
Sir William said a "large number" of soldiers assaulted Mr Mousa and the other detainees, and he added that many others - including several officers - must have known what was happening.
Now I don't know how this freedom of the town thing works but to my mind this association taints our town and I think there should be some way that we can rescind this honour. Perhaps we should have waited until the outcome of this inquiry was known. Had we waited I don't think that I would have been the only councillor to have voted against bestowing this honour on this regiment.
Today we have a damming report was delivered after a year long inquiry headed by chairman, Sir William Gage.
At the heart of this is the death of Baha Mousa. Sir William makes it clear that this cannot be explained away as being simply the act of a few rogue soldiers
Sir William said a "large number" of soldiers assaulted Mr Mousa and the other detainees, and he added that many others - including several officers - must have known what was happening.
Now I don't know how this freedom of the town thing works but to my mind this association taints our town and I think there should be some way that we can rescind this honour. Perhaps we should have waited until the outcome of this inquiry was known. Had we waited I don't think that I would have been the only councillor to have voted against bestowing this honour on this regiment.
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