View source for Tim Collins (Ex-army)

Colonel (retd) Tim Collins OBE (born Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 1960) is a former officer in the [[British Army]]. He gained prominence around the time of the the Iraq War following an eve-of-battle speech which the media declared 'inspirational'. The speech received much praise -- not least from Tim Collins himself -- and a copy of reportedly hangs in the White House's Oval Office.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/3608181.stm Iraq war colonel awarded OBE], ''BBC News'', 7 April 2004</ref> The speech's theme of liberation vs. conquest, and its oft quoted line ('If you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory'), however, appear to be borrowed from a speech by Comte de Bourmont who on the eve of the colonization of Algeria in May 1830 perorated in front of the amassed troops: 'merciless in combat, you must be compassionate and magnanimous after victory...the Arab will see you as liberators'.<ref>Text of de Bourmont's speech in Robert Fisk, ''The Great War for Civilization'' (Harper Collins: London 2005) p.636</ref>

By 2005 he was to make a complete about-face on his assessment of the invasion, arguing it has 'acted as the best recruiting sergeant for al-Qaeda ever'. He called it a "catastrophe" and a "right-rollicking cock-up".<ref>Tim Collins, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/18/iraq.comment This is a mess of our own making], ''The Observer'', 18 September 2005</ref>

More recently Collins has engaged in pro-Israel propaganda activities including attempts to white-wash Israeli war crimes in Gaza during its 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8470100.stm Celebrated Iraq war veteran's view of the Gaza conflict], ''BBC News'', 19 January 2010</ref> The film, in which he (literally) compares bullet holes in the walls of the Israeli town of Sderot with wholesale destruction in Gaza he ends by giving Israel a clean bill of health because 'it is not as bad for instance as Fallujah, and certainly not as bad as Ramadi'.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8470100.stm Celebrated Iraq war veteran's view of the Gaza conflict], ''BBC News'', 19 January 2010</ref> The VNR was produced for the BBC's flagship Newsnight by a company called [[ConflictZones]], yet the company has produced nothing besides this short film. Curiously, the company has no other information available on its website (which is a single page about the film) beside a generic email address. The company has also employed a domain anonymizing service to register its domain name, an odd precaution for a film-maker.<ref>[http://www.conflictzones.tv/ ConflictZones] accessed 1 February 2010</ref> 

==Affiliations==
*[[Royal Irish Rangers]]
*[[RISC Management]]
*[[Henry Jackson Society]] - Signatory to the Statement of Principles <ref>[http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/signatories.asp?pageid=35 HJS Statement of Principles]</ref>

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[[Category:British Army|Collins, Tim]]