FURY OVER THE MOD COWARDS
Soldiers’ anger as military chiefs ban serving personnel from mass rally in support of jailed Marine
SERVICEMEN have been banned from joining a rally for a Marine jailed for killing a Taliban fighter in the heat of battle.
More than 1,300 supporters are expected to gather in Westminster tomorrow to demand justice for Alexander Blackman.
But top brass warn of disciplinary action against any troops caught attending the ‘political’ event.
‘This is pure cowardice from the MoD,’ said a serviceman last night. ‘They have tried to sweep the case under the carpet from the word go.’
Sergeant Blackman, 41, was convicted two years ago of killing a Taliban fatally wounded attacking a British base in Afghanistan.
He admits making a split-second mistake on a ‘tour from hell’ that saw comrades tortured and their body parts hung from trees. But he believes his court martial was a cover-up for commanders’ failings.
John Davies, a former Marine helping organise tomorrow’s event, said serving personnel had confirmed an MoD ban was in place.
He added: ‘This is not a political protest, it is a show of support to one of our fellow Marines.
‘The overwhelming reaction from servicemen is they are furious they are not allowed to come.
‘But of course an on-the- spot charge could stay on their record
‘Thrown to the wolves’
and affect promotion.’ Frederick Forsyth, the thriller writer spearheading the campaign for justice, will be at tomorrow’s protest.
Of the MoD ban, he said: ‘It is just another clumsy and cowardly attempt to cover up their errors.
‘The Establishment knows it has made a huge mistake with Sgt Blackman, and when they make mistakes, they will crucify a thousand legionnaires to try to cover it up – always have, always will.’
In today’s Mail, Forsyth, who flew for the RAF, writes: ‘It seems senior officers have just turned to face the wall, consigning the man who laid his life on the line for this country more times than anyone else in that court room had had hot dinners, to be thrown to the wolves.’
The Mail understands that the command not to attend has been included in the military’s daily routine orders which are displayed at all barracks and emailed to senior officers.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘Serv- ing members of the military are given routine reminders that, according to the Queens Regulations RN, they are not to attend any political protests, marches, rallies or demonstrations.
‘Any gathering which seeks to protest against a decision taken by the legal system or the government falls into this category.’
Among those expected to take part in the show of solidarity at 11.30am in Parliament Square are ex-Paras, Navy and RAF as well as United States Marines and US Air Force, according to organisers. Hundreds of members of the public are also set to be there.
They will be joined by former Marines who served alongside Sgt Blackman, including Cassidy Little, who lost his leg in Afghanistan.
The event has been organised at almost no notice by ex-servicemen outraged at the treatment of Sgt Blackman.
The day – October 28 – is particularly significant as it is the date the Corps of Royal Marines was formed.
Sgt Blackman was jailed for life over an incident in Helmand province in September 2011. The Taliban fighter had been horrifically injured trying to storm an outpost and Sgt Blackman’s patrol found him in a field.
A Mail investigation uncovered evidence that was ‘deliberately withheld’ from the court martial in 2011 – when Sgt Blackman was known only as ‘Marine A’.
We also revealed that a high-flying officer, Colonel Oliver Lee, quit his commission in disgust at being blocked from offering evidence in support of Sgt Blackman.
A secret Ministry of Defence internal report into the fiasco, leaked to the Mail, reveals commanders had pushed Sgt Blackman’s unit to be too aggressive and failed to spot ‘psychological strain and fatigue’.
His troop was undermanned, under-resourced and under daily assault from Taliban militants.
Sgt Blackman’s supporters believe he was made a scapegoat for a wider failure of high command, and now there will be an application to have his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter.
Led by Jonathan Goldberg QC, his new legal team is preparing to petition the Criminal Cases Review Commission to send the case back to the court of appeal.
The basis for this petition is that the crucial defence of manslaughter was never raised by the defence team at the original court martial.
Nor was this a possible verdict for the ‘jury’ panel of seven Royal Navy officers to consider.
Lawyers will argue there was a wealth of evidence to show Sgt Blackman was suffering from battlefield stress syndrome and that he temporarily lost his control and snapped. If the panel had been able to return a manslaughter verdict, the sentence could have been no more than three years in prison.
Last week, it emerged that police have launched a criminal investigation into claims of ill treatment made by scores of suspected Taliban insurgents captured by British soldiers in Afghanistan.
It means other serving and former personnel will be brought before investigators to justify their actions in the heat of battle.
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