British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

I despair.
Our warriors were sent over there under trained under equipped and under funded.
Their lives were put on the line constantly, risking death or severe injury, mental or physical.
Now we have mealy mouthed politically backed departments doing their worst to criminalise some of those who were ordered to obey their politicians commands.
Meanwhile, the instigator of all this human misery, Anthony Blair, continues to travel the world enriching himself with millions as an award for his subservience and collaboration with that great world leader, ( in his own mind at least ) George Bush jnr

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6793271.html

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

No. Read the title of your own thread. They are not being criminalised. War crimes are already regarded as such. Those guilty of committing them are criminals. If you are saying that stress during their serving in Irak is to blame for their ill judgement, then all I can say is that you ought to have considered that when you supported them being sent to a war, that you knew in your heart was illegal.

Not sure about T.B. but Bush faces arrest in one or two nations for those very war crimes, should he set foot on their soil.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

There are rules of war.

If you join the army ( which these men did of their own free will) you expect to play by the rules if you dont then expect to be punished.

I understand that mistakes will be made and in stressful situations sometimes shots are fired when they shouldnt be, but torture and rape are not or shouldnt be part of any civilised mans agenda.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

The armed forces are like any other organisation, always you will find the bad apples. However soldiers MUST carry out the orders of their superiors whether they like it or not and I am quite sure each and everyone of them know this. War is a dirty business and when soldiers have seen their colleagues blown to pieces by the "enemy" how do people think they feel? How do they think the wives and mothers of soldiers killed or maimed for life by the "enemy" feel? If an "enemy" is captured do they presume the captured "enemy" is given tea and cakes, patted on the head and told "there, there, it´s okay"? They might as well prosecute every single member of the armed forces and be done with it.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

In a civilised society we like to think that we are in control, so we make laws and rules. When two countries or groups dispute some law or rule war results. When all else fails one side attacks the other with brute force until one side submits. It would be nice to think that; like a game of football or monopoly there should be rules of engagement. Not so, go out there and use all means available to defeat your foe, there are no rules in war that's what war is....the breakdown of society.
And you should never advertise the fact of any wrong doings by your soldiers, it should be dealt with internally.
What do you think our enemies will be reading into this. They will be attacking us with a renewed vigour. For Gods sake, what happens on the battlefield stays on the battle field.
To all the British soldiers fighting on my behalf....Thanks lads, you have done a good job and no complaints from me...Even If I didn't agree with the people who sent you on this fools errand.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

Jordan is in the army, he is being well trained and equipped to do the job he is paid to do. He knows that there may be times he is provoked but part of the rigorous training is how to deal with that. They have rules nod have to be held to them or we are no better than the people we ask them to engage with.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

Fair question. I have an answer. What they should feel is this, "Shit! That was bad! Now I know how 'the enemy' felt yesterday when we blew up 12 of theirs ..... here, defending their own country."

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

If they have committed recognised war crimes and atrocities then they should be punished accordingly, otherwise they are as evil as some of those they are fighting against.

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

Hear-hear!

Re: British Soldiers Could Face War Crimes In Iraq

A very simplistic view Julie, unfortunately the theory does not always work in practice. If Jordan doesn´t like something he is told to do and refuses to do it, then Jordan is going to find himself in a heap of trouble. It really isn´t a matter of dealing with being provoked, it´s a matter of obeying orders from a superior, your personal opinion of what is right and wrong quite simply is not a matter of choice. My son was a career soldier, lied about his age to join the army cadets, earned his "guaranteed" place in the army, stayed with cadets as an instructor until it was time for him to go to the "big army". Worked his way up to Sergeant, suffered more than a few injuries, but his career was finished when he got very severe injuries, mainly to his leg, which put him in hospital for almost a year and various operations on the leg during the next two years. All the training in the world doesn´t prevent such things happening.