Tim Collins won instant fame for the speech he made as commanding officer to the Royal Irish Regiment on the eve of its advance into Iraq at the start of the recent war. His eloquence was rewarded by the attention of President Bush, who hung a copy of the speech on a wall of the Oval Office.
Colonel Collins became the darling of the British press for the duration of the war and its immediate aftermath. A more wily warrior would have realised the danger in which he had put himself. The army hierarchy does not like officers who single themselves out for attention, unless by signal exploits on the battlefield. The Iraq war did not provide opportunities for gallant deeds or exemplary displays of leadership. The enemy gave up almost without a fight. The war was not popular at home.
Collins found himself, within a few weeks of the war’s apparent end, accused by the press of misconduct in the line of duty, of mistreating Iraq’s civilians and even his own soldiers and allies. What had begun for the colonel as a great adventure quickly became a bitter experience of betrayal by false friends; worse, by military comrades.
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