Tim Collins ( British Army officer ) Colonel Timothy Thomas Cyril " Tim " Collins , OBE ( born April 1960 ) is a former officer in the British Army . He is best known for his role in the Iraq War in 2003 , and his inspirational eve - of - battle speech , a copy of which apparently hung in the White House ' s Oval Office . He is currently CEO ( and co - founder ) of intelligence - based security services company New Century . Early life . Collins was born and raised in Belfast , Northern Ireland , where he grew up during The Troubles . He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution before attending the Queen ' s University of Belfast , where he gained a degree in economics . Military career . After graduating from university , Collins was accepted into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , from where he was commissioned into the Royal Signals as a second lieutenant on a short service commission on 2 October 1981 . His commission was later backdated to 7 April 1979 , and he was promoted to lieutenant with seniority from 7 April 1981 . He transferred to the Royal Irish Rangers on 18 October 1982 . He switched to a full commission on 22 October 1984 , and was promoted captain on 7 October 1985 . In 1994 , Collins graduated as Master of Arts after completing the Army ' s Commands and Staff course at Staff College , Camberley . Collins went on to serve in Germany , Cyprus , the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar , as well as completing two tours of duty in Northern Ireland , the first in south Armagh and the second in east Tyrone . He passed selection into the Special Air Service in 1988 and went on to serve two operational tours with the regiment as a troop commander and as operations officer and one tour at HQ Special Forces in Duke of York Barracks , London where he was responsible for the detention of Persons Indicted for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia ( PIFWICs ) , Offensive Information Operations ( OIO ) in Kosovo and the Operations in Sierra Leone culminating in Operation Barras . He was promoted major on 30 September 1992 , and lieutenant - colonel on 30 June 1999 . Collins was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Battalion , Royal Irish Regiment in 2001 , and earned the nickname " Nails " among his men . For a tour of duty in Northern Ireland between October 2001 and March 2002 , he was awarded the Queen ' s Commendation for Valuable Service on 29 October 2002 . It was in the capacity of 1 R Irish ' s commanding officer that he rose to prominence while serving in Iraq . Eve - of - battle speech . As Lieutenant Colonel ( Commanding Officer ) of the 1st Battalion , Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army , Collins gave a rousing eve - of - battle speech to his troops in Kuwait on Wednesday 19 March 2003 . The speech was extemporised , and was recorded in shorthand by a single journalist , Sarah Oliver . No recording or film of the speech exists , Collins told the BBC . In popular culture . On 31 October 2003 he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire , for his service in Iraq and was invested on 7 April 2004 . Collins was promoted to colonel and moved to the General Staff on 30 June 2003 . The " Mark of Cain " line from the speech inspired the title of the 2007 Film4 Productions drama " The Mark of Cain " . In the film a commanding officer makes a speech based on Collins ' to his men . The last episode of the 2008 television series " 10 Days to War " features a version of the speech performed by Kenneth Branagh as Collins . He set up the Peace Support College in Sarajevo before becoming DACOS Training at HQ Land Command until his retirement . In the video game Modern Warfare 3 , Tim Collins ' s inspirational speech is quoted when you die . False accusations from Iraq . After serving in the Iraq War he was accused by US Army reservist Major Re Biastre of the mistreatment of Iraqi civilians and prisoners of war . Following an investigation by the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police , he was cleared of any wrongdoing . He later won substantial undisclosed libel damages from both the " Sunday Express " and the " Sunday Mirror " newspapers . Post - military career . He officially left the army on 5 August 2004 . Collins has been approached by both the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party to run for Parliament , though has not made any commitment to either party . During the 2005 Ulster Unionist leadership election he was cited by a number of prominent Ulster Unionists as an outside figure who would make a good leader , but Collins declined as he felt he had " no experience of politics . " Collins is a signatory of the founding statement of principles of the Henry Jackson Society , which advocates a pro - active approach to the spread of liberal democracy through the world . He has recently been critical of the Iraq war : " the UK and US pour blood and treasure into overseas campaigns which seem to have no ending and no goal . . . Clearly I was naive " . Since leaving the Army , Collins ' views on the Iraq conflict and other military issues have been widely sought . In 2007 , Collins was host of a three - part documentary called Ships That Changed the World for BBC Northern Ireland . In December , 2008 – during an interview on the BBC ’ s " Today " programme , Collins said that , when he left in 2004 , the British Army was already undermanned for existing commitments . Collins is the Chief Executive Officer of specialist security company , New Century Consulting . In February 2011 Tim Collins appeared on the BBC news programme " Panorama " in a special entitled ' Forgotten Heroes ' . In the documentary , Collins meets veterans struggling to cope with civilian life and sleeps rough on the streets of Brighton with another former soldier . In December 2011 , it was revealed that Collins was approached to stand as an elected police commissioner for the Conservatives in Kent and originally was standing , however he later dropped out of the race . Since leaving the army Collins has also made a number of corporate speaking appearances , applying his military values to a business environment with a company called Military Speakers .