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Disillusioned Army high-flyer resigns
after he is cleared of mistreating Iraqis
The Iraq war commander, who won acclaim for an impassioned eve of war speech, has apparently become disillusioned after a highly publicised investigation into alleged ill-treatment of Iraqis during the conflict. The allegations, made by an American reservist, were proved to be baseless. During the military police inquiry Col Collins, 44, was sent on several months "gardening leave" but, according to friends, he felt abandoned by senior commanders until he was cleared. The investigation also affected his family, particularly his wife, Caroline. Mrs Collins told a Sunday newspaper that her husband resigned because the Army was being crippled by under-funding and petty bureaucracy. "Tim is no longer convinced that the Army reflects the country with the fourth largest economy in the world. He fears it is becoming a cottage industry," Mrs Collins said. "He's worried it is being crippled by political correctness, petty bureaucracy and the refusal of politicians who send British soldiers to war to give them enough money to do their job." Mrs Collins added that a leading factor in her husband's decision to resign was the Army's failure to support him when he was wrongly accused of mistreating Iraqi prisoners. Col Collins, a father of five, was eventually exonerated, promoted and awarded an OBE. It is thought that last week Army chiefs tried to prevent his embarrassing resignation, offering him a favourable future posting. Col Collins is currently a staff officer at the headquarters of the UK Land Forces in Wiltshire. As the former operations officer for the Special Air Service, having completed the Staff College course and with operational command of a regiment, Col Collins was destined for the top. At the very least it is likely that the colonel would have been offered the brigadier's post of Director Special Forces (DSF) in charge of the SAS and the Special Boat Service. The position would have inevitably led to Col Collins's promotion to general. An Army friend said Col Collins's wife and family "had had a torrid time" during the Iraq investigation. "His family found it very hard to take," he said. "Events went from the extremes of high praise to vitriol. "There were a lot of colleagues running away from him and only a few running towards him. Tim certainly discovered who his real friends were. People distanced themselves to make sure they were OK until he was cleared." A military colleague, who said the resignation came as a shock, believed that the officer stood a very strong chance of becoming DSF and that in no way had his career "come to the end of the line". As the commanding officer of the 1st Bn the Royal Irish Regiment, Col Collins made an inspirational eve of battle speech. The text of the speech was later framed and hung on the wall of the Oval Office by President George W Bush and praised by the Prince of Wales as encapsulating all that was good in the British Army. Surrounded by his troops, the cigar-smoking, officer said: "If you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory." The colonel, who was nicknamed "Nails", urged his men to wrap their fallen comrades in a sleeping bag, fight on and grieve for them only after the heat of battle. The Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday that Col Collins had put in an application for resignation last week that would by approved by an Army board within 12 months. A family friend at his mother's home in Belfast, where Col Collins was born and educated, said she was not surprised that he had resigned because of the unwarranted Iraq investigation. "It's the Army's loss," she added. After 22 years devoted to serving his country Col Collins will leave with a pension and an opportunity to seek fresh employment in the civilian world. Friends said he might take up book offers, go on the speech circuit or enter the security business. © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited
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The
Army has lost one of its most competent officers with the resignation of
Col Tim Collins, military sources said yesterday.