Leigh Day and Co have made a lot of money out of suing British soldiers on behalf of Iraqis.
As a result, the British Army risks becoming even more risk averse; and why should it’s young officers and NCOs have to worry about being sued years afterwards for doing their duty?
“Torture Report: war is no place for the law.”
As the writer of this article says, “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” But there is a dividing line between politics and war, which unfortunately our political leaders don’t seem to understand. The first point being that you can only declare war on other nations, and not on ideas (communism or islamic extremists) or commodities (drugs).
Soldiers cannot be subject to civilian laws – to which their opponents will definitely not be adhering. The current ambivalence in this respect will turn our soldiers into indecisively easy targets for people who will shoot or bomb first, then go to court later.
The law should only be for people who agree to be bound by its strictures. That should rule out terrorists and our enemies.
But civil liberties must not be infringed by police or security agencies’ demands for stricter action against terrorists. Terrorism thrives on state repression. SO the dividing line across which war is declared is critical, it really must entail a suspension of normal law for our troops.
But that doesn’t render them lawless. The Geneva Conventions will always bind them – but realistically, in proper recognisance of the circumstances.