COLONEL Tim Collins visited Jersey to highlight the continuing plight of Ukraine, and the relief efforts of the Jersey charity Friends of Ukraine EOD of which he is patron.
But in his 30-minute interview, the Colonel talks not only about relief efforts there but about growing up in Belfast as the Troubles began; the iniquity of sectarian education; the perpetrators of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia; and his own political ambitions as an Ulster Unionist candidate in the next general election.
If it seemed remarkable that – on the eve of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – he could improvise a battle speech to his battalion that would later make it to the Oval Office in the White House, you feel that the list of subjects on which he could convincingly extemporise might actually be quite a long one.
“Those words and thoughts tend to come to you on the step of the gallows, and I found myself in the unusual position having taken command of an Irish battalion which had been badly undermanned. It was a very young battalion, some not old enough to go [into combat]. Some of these guys had never been out of Ireland before until they’d gone on British Army training, and yet here they were in the desert about to become involved in an invasion.
“I wanted to make it clear to them that my expectation was that this would be the end of some of their young lives, and I felt it was necessary to give them an explanation of why that was; secondly, they were going to be asked to take other human lives and that’s a big thing. This wasn’t a video game – it was for real and I wanted them to understand the solemn duty that that involves from the outset, so that the complications that might come later don’t happen, or at least you can ameliorate them,” he said.
Of course, Colonel Collins did not entirely escape those complications, being faced with a list of so-called war crimes of which he was to be exonerated following an inquiry but it led to what he describes as “a divorce with the army in which the two parties couldn’t stand the sight of each other”. It also led, following accusations of murder by the Sunday Mirror, to the payment of undisclosed damages in the Northern Ireland High Court. “They contributed a six-figure sum towards my house,” he said with a chuckle.
But those stirring words delivered on the border of Kuwait and Iraq – their tone lying somewhere between King Henry V and Churchill – were fortuitously taken down in shorthand by a journalist because they gave him what he accepts is a “notoriety” helpful to the development of professional life after the army.
“We go to Iraq to liberate not to conquer,” he had told his men. “We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them. There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.”
The words are fashioned from a Belfast upbringing at the time of the Troubles. Beginning his association with the army at school, Colonel Collins was later to work with the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s special branch, bringing him into contact with what he describes as “sick, evil people”. “I don’t think I’ve come across more vicious people in the world, with the possible exception of the Bosnians, than what the Irish do to each other,” he said.
He can make that comparison because one of his roles as a Lieutenant-Colonel was to read the indictments against those accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
“I only read one,” he recalled. “After that I would just open it, go to the back page and make sure the name of the person was the person they definitely wanted. I wouldn’t want to read the content because I didn’t want it in my head. There was stuff in the indictments that I couldn’t conceive of and, once you read it, you can’t unread it. It’s my misfortune in life to have dealt with some of the lowest forms of humanity, doing things that normal people just couldn’t conceive of doing to each other,” he said.
Like many other military experts, Colonel Collins is not optimistic about Ukraine in the short term since Vladimir Putin’s future is dependent on the perception of a successful Russian outcome. With the proliferation of fake news disseminated from Moscow, Colonel Collins positions the conflict in a wider context.
“You are either on the side of the coalition of evil – comprising China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, and minor players like Myanmar and others – or you’re on the side of democracy but democracy doesn’t look like a very good offering at the moment with societies – and the UK is a prime example – that are not sure who or what they are any more. That makes them very vulnerable and has echoes of the end of the Roman Empire,” he said.
Nevertheless, he looks forward to the time when, prompted by internal discontent within the Russian military, there may be regime change at which point the role of the West will be “to kill the generals with kindness”, helping rebuild an economy on which democratic principles will ultimately depend.
But that lies a long way into the future. In the short term, he explains that the West must ensure, through the continuing supply of equipment and munitions, that Ukraine does not lose the conflict: it would be our loss, too.
However, the cost is high, as he knows from his own visits to see some of the dangerous work being undertaken by Friends of Ukraine EOD whose founder Ben Remfrey appeared on the platform with him in Jersey. An area of the country the size of the United Kingdom needs to be cleared of live unexploded munitions. “There is dangerous munition that will be cleared from Ukraine by people who haven’t been born yet. This is going on for generations,” he said grimly.
With unequivocal views on global events and his high profile, it is perhaps not surprising that Colonel Collins has been courted as a prospective political candidate by both the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionists. He has confirmed that he will stand for the latter in the 2024 general election, inspired partly by a sense that Northern Ireland is being “left behind” and that people there “need to be woken up from their stupor”.
“For too long the Good Friday Agreement handed the working classes of both sides to the paramilitaries and said do what you like, just keep it off the street. In the education system, the working class are having a miserable time. Less than 5% of children are educated together. Somebody’s going to have to do something about it, or at least speak up. That’s where I thought it was time to get on my hind legs and volunteer to do it.
“Of course, people might not want to know. They might like the misery they are in. The middle classes might just stay at home and throw rolled up balls to paper at the TV,” he said.
Colonel Tim Collins’ speech
We go to liberate, not to conquer.
We will not fly our flags in their country.
We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own.
Show respect for them.
There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly.
Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
As for the others, I expect you to rock their world.
Wipe them out if that is what they choose.
But 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.
You will see things that no man could pay to see – and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.
You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.
Don’t treat them as refugees for they are 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 woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.
Allow them dignity in death.
Bury them properly and mark their graves.
It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive.
But there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.
We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back.
There will be no time for sorrow.
The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction.
There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam.
He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done.
As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.
It is a big step to take another human life.
It is not to be done lightly.
I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts.
I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them.
If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.
The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.
If you harm the Regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer.
You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest – for your deeds will follow you down through history.
We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.
(On Saddam’s chemical and biological weapons)
It is not a question of if, it’s a question of when.
We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself.
If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.
As for ourselves, let’s bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.
Our business now is north.
