Seven British troops face court martial for murder of Iraqi civilian News
Seven British troops face court martial for murder of Iraqi civilian

[JURIST] Lord Goldsmith, Britain's attorney general, announced Thursday [AP report] that seven British soldiers suspected of murdering an Iraqi civilian in southern Iraq will stand trial. The troops, who had been extensively questioned about the death of Nadhem Abdullah on May 11, 2003, will face court martial in Germany. This is the first time that UK soldiers in Iraq have been charged for the murder of an Iraqi civilian. Civilian police are also said to be investigating six other soldiers over the shooting of another Iraqi man. Three other British troops already face a court martial [JURIST report, charge list from BBC] in Germany for the alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians at a base in Basra. Since the war in Iraq has started, Britain has started more than 130 investigations into deaths and injuries of Iraqis ranging from combat deaths to Iraqis who died in custody. No date has been set for a trial or a preliminary hearing. AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.