Tim Collins (soldier)

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Tim Collins OBE (born Belfast, United Kingdom, April 1960) is a former colonel in the British Army. He is best known for his role in the Iraq War, and his inspirational eve-of-battle speech.

Collins was born and raised in Northern Ireland, and witnessed much violence in the height of the Troubles. He attended Queen's University, Belfast, where he read economics. When he left university, he was accepted into the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst before serving. In 1994, he graduated as Master of Arts after attending the Army Command and Staff College.

He has served in Germany, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, and Gibraltar. Collins also completed two tours of duty in his native Northern Ireland, in south Armagh and eastern Tyrone. Collins was appointed the commanding officer of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment in 2001. It was in this capacity that he rose to prominence in Iraq.

Later Collins was alleged by US Army reservist Major Re Biastre to have been responsible for mistreatment of Iraqi civilians and prisoners of war. He was totally cleared by a tribunal. Collins was awarded the Order of the British Empire, for services to the British Army. In January 2004, Collins left the army, citing bureaucracy, chronic underfunding, and the MoD's lack of support over the mistreatment allegations.

Collins has been approached by both the Conservative Party and the UUP to run for Parliament. As of 2005, he has yet to make a commitment to either party, or to party politics at all, but has expressed an interest in facing this challenge in the future.

Eve-of-battle Speech

As Lieutenant Colonel (Commanding Officer) of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army, Collins gave a rousing eve-of-battle speech to his troops in Iraq on Wednesday 19 March 2003. It was said that US President George W Bush subsequently had a copy of the speech tacked up on the wall of the Oval Office.

From the speech:

We are going to Iraq to liberate and not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that will be flown in that ancient land will be their own. Show respect for them.

The enemy knows this moment is coming too. Some have resolved to fight and others wish to survive. Be sure to distinguish between them . . . if you are ferocious in battle, remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

In the near future you will see things that no man could pay to see, and you will have to go a long way to meet a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by the hospitality they will offer you, even though they have nothing. Don't treat them as refugees in their own country.

Their children will be poor. In years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of war then remember that when they got up this morning and got dressed they did not plan to die this day.

Allow them dignity in death. Bury them with due reverence and properly mark their graves.

As for ourselves let's bring everyone home safely and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business now is north. Good luck.

External links

• Guardian Unlimited - Back into battle (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1489921,00.html) May 23, 2005 interview by Stephen Moss
• BBC News - Iraq war colonel awarded OBE (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3608181.stm) April 7, 2004
• Leibreich.com - "Our Business Now is North" (http://www.liebreich.com/LDC/HTML/Opinion/TimCollins.html) January 12, 2004
• Guardian Unlimited - Hero or villain? (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,960971,00.html) May 22, 2003 column by Stephen Moss about the war crimes claims
• BBC News - UK troops told: Be just and strong (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2866581.stm) March 20, 2003