Police investigator found dead

[demobrit]

The senior military police investigator in Iraq has been found dead at the British base in Basra, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

Captain Ken Masters was discovered in his accommodation in Waterloo Lines in southern Iraq on Saturday.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4347950.stm

[Wilms]

1. It's no big deal.

"The MoD said an inquiry was under way but the circumstances were not regarded as suspicious."

:popcorn:

[madeline_con]

2. "... circumstances were not regarded as suspicious ..."

So heart attack, or what? :shrug:

[ErisFiveFingers]

7. Guesses...

Based on the most common causes of death:
1. Heart attack
2. Cancer (maybe it was expected?)
3. Stroke

Of course, for his age group, one of the most comon causes of death is also accidents (as in: fell down in shower and broke his neck, tripped and landed on something nasty)....

[Barrett808]

11. Welcome to DU, ErisFiveFingers!

:hi:

And Hail Eris.

[ErisFiveFingers]

13. Thanks, and...

All hail discordia!

I was wondering if anybody was going to see the reference. :)

[Tigress DEM]

23. Suicide of course.

I'm investigating this and if it's inconvienent to the pRes, I'll just die.... or kill myself, yeah, that's it.

[nashville_brook]

3. "not suspicious" ?? oh no, not at all..

"The MoD said an inquiry was under way but the circumstances were not regarded as suspicious."

40-year olds die all the time for no reason and no one ever thinks THAT's suspicious.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Riiight. Just keep moving along folks. Nothing to see here.

Can't help but wonder what he was about to reveal.
:shrug:

[louis-t]

5. Did he accidentally shoot himself in the back

with a speargun?

[BrklynLiberal]

6. ...6 times?

[ErisFiveFingers]

8. Huh?

Is this some cultural reference I'm missing? :)

[BrklynLiberal]

9. It is like being "suicided"......

The implication being that it was NOT an accident.

[LisaL]

14. Hey, it can happen. Who was that guy that "suicided" himself

by shooting himself twice in a head?
:sarcasm:

[Tight_rope]

58. No only Twice...Most people only shot themselves in the back twice!

It's the most common way to shot yourself, if you want to commit suicide.:crazy:

[Barrett808]

10. But remember, it was a "relatively peaceful" day of voting n/t

[IChing]

12. "Responsible for the investigation of all in-theatre serious incidents"

This includes the investigation of the 2 British soldiers and the Basra Police station incident.

"He was Officer Commanding 61 Section, Special Investigation Branch, Royal Military Police.

"He had been responsible for the investigation of all in-theatre serious incidents, plus investigations conducted by the General Police Duties element of the Theatre Investigation Group."

[bobbieinok]

19. the 2 Br officers and the Basra police station smashed by the Br tank

was what I first thought of when I read this

cover up????? he was too close to finding out info about this??????

[texpatriot2004]

54. He was responsible for that incident? Hmm. I didn't think about

that. It slipped my mind. Oh, now I really believe it was on purpose.

[daleo]

15. Maybe he went for a walk, like scientist Kelly

This is very fishy.

[Rex]

16. Whoops!

Somebody got to close to something...

[havocmom]

17. Do high ranking British officers have 'private contractor' body guards too

Seriously think the brass is being held hostage over there and the ones who misstep will get corporate fragging via Blackwater.

[IChing]

18. So he was investigating cases against british forces.

the bbc added new information in this story

He added: "Quite often they are with British frontline forces when they go on searches and such like, and they would have been doing some of the investigations into cases against British forces on behalf of Iraqi civilians.

[Kailassa]

20. recommending and kicking. n/t

[IChing]

21. kick

[meganmonkey]

22. The Mirror calls it suicide...

THE Army officer in charge of investigating abuse of civilians by British forces in Iraq has been found dead, it was revealed yesterday.

Royal Military Police Captain Ken Masters, 40, is believed to have killed himself. His body was found on Saturday evening.

--snip--

Ministry of Defence sources said last night it is not believed Capt Masters had left a suicide note and it is not yet known how he died. No firearms are believed to have been involved.

The married father-of-two is not believed to have been suffering from depression, mental illness or physical injury and had not been due to appear as a witness in any cases relating to mistreatment.

more...


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16257386&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=army-s-top-abuse-cop-kills-himself-in-iraq--name_page.html

[daleo]

24. Just like Kelly.

Or so they say. Did he email Judith Miller too?

[goclark]

56. And Princess Diana had a speeding driver?

The British don't play do they?

[daleo]

60. They know how to play rough, that's for sure.

They have been at these games a long time. Shakespeare's plays' intrigues come to mind.

[ECH1969]

25. Army's Top Abuse Cop Kills Himself in Iraq

THE Army officer in charge of investigating abuse of civilians by British forces in Iraq has been found dead, it was revealed yesterday.

Royal Military Police Captain Ken Masters, 40, is believed to have killed himself. His body was found on Saturday evening.

An army colleague is said to have made the grim discovery in Waterloo Lines camp within the main British military base at Basra airport.

Ministry of Defence sources said last night it is not believed Capt Masters had left a suicide note and it is not yet known how he died. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the captain was "responsible for investigating all in-theatre serious incidents".

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16257386&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=army-s-top-abuse-cop-kills-himself-in-iraq--name_page.html

[alfredo]

26. suicide? Bull shit

[texpatriot2004]

30. "Suicided" is more like it. n.t

[BamaBecky]

40. Ditto

[flordehinojos]

42. that's a bush approach to solving the outing of truth...inexplicable

suicides.

did tony blair learn something from the bushes...or has the bushes record on suicided people gone up by one more soul?

[alfredo]

48. He must have been a big hurry

He didn't have time to write a suicide note.

We had a name for people like him, "buddy fuckers." Their job is either overt or covert, either way they are not liked.

[struggle4progress]

27. British forces feel pressure from abuse claims

Robert Booth and Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Monday October 17, 2005
The Guardian

<snip> The Ministry of Defence has yet to confirm how Captain Ken Masters became the 96th British serviceman to die in Iraq since the start of hostilities in March 2003. Last night the MoD declined to rule out suicide. Whatever the verdict, Cpt Masters was a part of a unit in Iraq facing formidable and conflicting demands.

Investigators are under pressure from the government which sees scrutiny of military activity as a way to reduce violence in Iraq. But they also face the demands of commanding officers who can resist recommendations for soldiers to be charged. It is thought that investigators are trying to deal with more than 100 complaints about the British army in the Basra area, and British lawyers representing Iraqi civilians are also adding to the workload. In one case, three British soldiers are being prosecuted for war crimes, allegedly committed in Iraq.

One of those soldiers, Corporal Donald Payne, faces a manslaughter charge over the death of an Iraqi, Baha Mousa in a prosecution brought by the Army Prosecution Authority. "They have more work than they can deal with," military expert Major Charles Heyman said. "Almost every time a shot is fired, statements have to be taken and that is the military police's responsibility. There is a huge backlog of work and large numbers of Iraqis are making claims against the British government. This sort of workload may have contributed to a considerable amount of stress for the guy running the show."

The war crimes case is one in a spate of setbacks that has soured the atmosphere among British personnel in Basra in recent months and increased the pressure on military police to scrutinise army actions. <snip>

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1593950,00.html

[cwydro]

31. yikes

this is getting more and more scary..:tinfoilhat:

[Lubernaut]

28. Seems a little fishy to me.

[texpatriot2004]

29. Gee. So many people involved with * or his family commit

"suicide" I mean really it's an uncanny number of people.

The idea that this man would do so...highly unlikely IMHO.

People are dropping dead like flies around this evil regime. The Interior Priminister of Syria, some other person this last week in a motel room under suspicious circumstances now this.

Is your tinfoil hat on just right? Mine is.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

32. Seems as though suicide is becoming epidemic

among people who investigate such things. Odd.

[texpatriot2004]

36. Strange huh? Investigations cause death by "suicide" n.t

[JoFerret]

33. A bit more info at

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320111.ece

[texpatriot2004]

34. So, he's investigating the abuse of civilians by the British...

what did he know that the British didn't want known? Suicide my ass.

[struggle4progress]

35. Senior military investigator found dead in Iraq

By Kim Sengupta in Basra
Published: 17 October 2005

<snip> The body of Captain Ken Masters, the commander of 61 Section of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend. The death is being investigated by the SIB. <snip>

Friends and colleagues of Captain Masters, who was married with two children, said that his death had come as a "total surprise".

After his body was found early on Saturday evening a siren sounded over Basra camp, flares were fired in the air, and all military personnel were confined to barracks .

Despite being of middle-rank, Captain Masters was in charge of all serious incidents involving the British military in Iraq. <snip>

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320111.ece

[Nihil]

55. Sounds like the discoverer didn't think "suicide" either ...

> After his body was found early on Saturday evening a siren sounded
> over Basra camp, flares were fired in the air, and all military
> personnel were confined to barracks.

To me, this indicates that the person who found the body was thinking
more of assassins than suicide so hit the alarm button ...

[HuffleClaw]

37. ok, that is just a teensy wee bit of a convenience.

really, it is.

[Tigress DEM]

38. Riiiiiight.

Pray for the truth to come out, people. More fuel for the fire.

[Tigress DEM]

39. Riiiiiight.

Pray for the truth to come out, people. More fuel for the fire.

[LibertyorDeath]

41. Royal Military Police Captain Ken Masters, 40 was murdered

by those guilty of some of the most atrocious war crimes since the Nazi's were on their killing spree. IMO

" killed himself"

These are some sick fucks

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jazzjunkysue]

44. isn't this getting old? They can't kill enough whistleblowers to get

the truth buried. But I'm not surprised: It's total ass-cover time in the war machine.

[prescole]

45. I'd be reluctant to politicize this

except for the Right Wing Attack Machine's continuing desecration of Vince Foster.
Payback is tough.

[powwowdancer]

52. yeah, sort of...

I remember all the conspiracy noise around people who died that were in some way or another associated with Clinton. I guess what I'd like to see is for someone, anyone, to get to the bottom of this, but with the current junta's complete and utter lack of transparency, that just isn't very likely. Good news? Nature abhors a vacuum.

:dem:
powwowdancer out

[demobrit]

57. Conspiracy , Did he jump or was he pushed ?

This last few months has seen British Soldiers accused and convicted of abuse of Iraqis and recently the British have fallen foul of the Basra Police and had to rescue 2 of their number .
The British suspect that the Basra Police force have been infiltrated by insurgents .
This Captain must have been very involved here and must have been under tremendous pressure from the British authorities on one side and the Iraqis on the other .
The timing of his death does look fishy to say the least,
The British are past masters of keeping the lid on things and we may never know what really happened with this Guy .

[DemoTex]

46. Do they take us for rubes? Lads from the woods?

This is, quite frankly, insulting. Who wrote this crap, the minister of propaganda?

[powwowdancer]

51. now, now, herr goerring is as shocked as you...

Shit. Sure does put a big ol' wet, naked grandma in the bed with the Army's hard-on to find out who's responsible, don't it? Who's gonna volunteer for that gig? As if Iraq wasn't dangerous enough, now we're whackin' out our own guys who won't "play ball?" I'm a broken record, I know, but we have become the evil empire. I am a veteran as well, and the oath I took wasn't a loyalty oath to the fuckin' fuhrer, it was to "defend the constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic." It seems to me that our greatest enemy; the biggest threat to the spread of freedom and democracy is, well... domestic. We need, as a nation, to "domesticate" this homegrown threat to regain any semblance of the esteem we had before son of wimp* and his junta illegally siezed power. If youd've told me back in say, 98, that America would start a war illegally, openly condone torture, suspend the constitution, cut down forests and call it "Healthy Forests," increase atmospheric pollutants and call it "Clean Air Initiative" and all this at the behest of a jabbering gimp of a commander in chimp, I'd've smiled at you and backed away slowly. The good news is, this kind of evil will eventually implode. The bad news is the entire world is ground zero. Don't get any on ya.

:dem:
powwowdancer out

*Remember when wimp the elder went "skydiving" for his 75th birthday? His big "solo" jump was actually made securely strapped to some big, burley dude's chest like a frikkin' toddler. Wimp is as wimp does. He'll go to his just reward without clue one. Here's the kicker, his son's an even bigger loser. Stew on that a while.

[DS1]

47. Not known how he died?

but it was a grim discovery?

So the question is, how did this hole get in his head? :eyes:

[LisaL]

49. No suicide note. LOL. But he killed himself, just the same.

Who are they kidding?

[texpatriot2004]

50. Not depressed, not mentally ill, 2 kids and a wife...suicided. n.t

[Peace Patriot]

53. Jeez.

[MilesColtrane]

59. It was SIDS

Sudden Investigator Death Syndrome
another specialty of the SchvarzVasser/Negroponte boys...
Fitzgerald better watch his ass