The Gray Monk

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July 23, 2005

Undermining the Armed Forces

Another of Mr Blair's grand ideas coming home to bite him is his eagerness to sign up to the "International War Crimes Court" or whatever grand title this idiotic offshoot of the UN is called. Now that he has signed up to it, he had to quickly introduce legislation in our own parliament or allow our treasonous legal beagles to drag our troops into a foreign court at every opportunity. So now we have another piece of meddling legislation which allows charges to be brought by enemies against our troops for doing their job in a war zone and as a cover up for the real guilt which lies right in the heart of Whitehall - in Downing Street, the Palace of Westminster, and in the Ministry buildings of Whitehall. It is these people who should be in court and not the soldiers they are so free to throw at every conflict they can find.

The US had the good sense to refuse to sign up to this, and the even better sense to hold onto the principle of having separate Military Law and Justice. Not so Mr Blair and his shower of cretins - "Civil Law" is better than Military Law and can cover everything Military Law can. That is as may be; what it can never address is the lack of competence in Civil or Criminal Courts to test decisions or actions made on a battlefield under battle conditions - and the ending of formal fighting in enemy territory is far from being the end of hostilities! As Iraq has proved, it is only the beginning of a new phase - but that is not what Whitehall or the gravy train passengers of Westminster would ever understand.

So now we have the spectacle of civilian lawyers trying to press charges against soldiers serving in Iraq and against their commanding officer, a holder of the Distinguished Service Order, usually awarded for exceptional bravery in the face of the enemy - under this cockamamie Act for "War Crimes". And the smirking civil servants behind it are the ones who should be in the dock alongside Blair - for high treason.

As some distinguished Noble Lords, all ex-Chief's of the Defence Staff, said last week, this will undermine morale, it will undermine recruiting, and it will undermine discipline. But, perhaps that is what Whitehall and Blair want. After all, it will be much easier to roll over and surrender to the terrorists if we have no armed forces to call on, won't it.

Posted by The Gray Monk at July 23, 2005 10:07 AM

Comments

Posted by: skipjack at July 24, 2005 06:59 AM