Clegg calls for inquiry into Iraq death, torture and abuse claims

Mr Clegg, who has previously said he believes the Iraq war was “illegal”, said it was up to the US administration to answer for the actions of its forces.

And he did not rule out the possibility of an inquiry into the actions of British forces in Iraq.

His comments contrasted with an earlier statement by the Ministry of Defence, which attacked the leak, saying the posting of 400,000 classified US military logs on the WikiLeaks website could endanger the lives of British forces.

“We can bemoan how these leaks occurred, but I think the nature of the allegations made are extraordinarily serious. They are distressing to read about and they are very serious,”Mr Clegg said. “I am assuming the US administration will want to provide its own answer. It’s not for us to tell them how to do that.”

Asked about an inquiry into British troops, he said: “I think anything that suggests that basic rules of war, conflict and engagement have been broken or that torture has been in any way condoned are extremely serious and need to be looked at.”

According to WikiLeaks, the logs included details of 15,000 previously unrecorded civilian deaths in Iraq, and showed that US troops routinely overlooked torture and abuse.

In a statement, the MoD said: “We condemn any unauthorised release of classified material.

“This can put the lives of UK service personnel and those of our allies at risk and make the job of armed forces in all theatres of operation more difficult and more dangerous.”

It said it was inappropriate to speculate on the document claims.

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