Even the ‘best of British’ are not above law
The SAS enjoys a unique status in British life, and its soldiers are often rightly viewed as heroes. They are almost certainly the finest special forces unit in the world. Their record is remarkable, both in theatres of war and counter-terrorist operations – most famously ending-the 1980 Iranian embassy siege in London.
Thus these allegations are a serious embarrassment to the Army, and to the elite regiment based at hereford. It is vital to stress that nothing as yet has been proved against them.
even so, critics have complained for many years that it has been allowed to be too much of a ‘private army’, immune from the usual supervision and discipline by the military hierarchy.
The regiment is dominated by its non- commissioned officers – ‘ sergeant power’ – because many serve with the unit for years, while captains and majors come and go.
In Afghanistan, senior officers complained that the SAS often seemed to be waging a separate campaign against the Taliban enemy from the one being fought by infantry battalions.
Sometimes, it has been resistant even to telling the central chain of command what they were doing – most often, targeting individuals alleged to be Taliban commanders.
Certainly, the regiment takes enormous pride in its professionalism and achievements. It does things differently – and it does them supremely well. In Iraq, while the US Army thought poorly of the performance of its British allies in the south around Basra, American generals were full of praise for the achievements of SAS hit squads which captured or killed scores of key Al Qaeda personnel in and around Baghdad.
But now we read these allegations, about SAS misconduct in Afghanistan.
Rumours about this have been widespread in the Army for more than a year, causing alarm precisely because the regiment is hailed as representing ‘ best of British ’.
The issue is not merely that soldiers were accused of killings in cold blood and of planting weapons in households where none were found, but that these episodes were systematically covered-up by senior officers, up to and including the majorgeneral then serving as the director of special forces.
There is no suggestion that any officer above that level colluded in attempting to suppress this ugly story. The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, has been unyielding in his view that justice must take its course, however embarrassing for the Armed Forces. ‘how else can we claim to hold the moral high ground against the enemy?’ he once asked.
Throughout the controversy about the Royal Marines’ Sergeant Alexander Blackman, released from prison earlier this year after 1,277 days behind bars after his conviction for the murder of an Afghan insurgent was quashed and downgraded to manslaughter on the basis of combat stress, Sir Nick Carter said that the issue had to be left in the hands of the judges.
he is right. No soldier can be above the law. If members of an SAS squadron are guilty of war crimes in Afghanistan, they must be brought to justice, however great the embarrassment for hereford and for the Army as a whole.
Otherwise, the moral high ground, which is rightfully ours in the struggle against our enemies, becomes threatened. This has happened before in war. There were atrocities in Vietnam – the My Lai massacre foremost among them. Western guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq subjected prisoners to cruelties and humiliations. US captives at Guantanamo Bay were shackled and mistreated.
Such actions were politically, morally and legally indefensible.
The leak about the military police investigation, and the recent decision by the Ministry of Defence drastically to reduce its scope, must have been prompted by frustration and anger among those who have been conducting inquiries for the past 18 months.
The message is always the same from these affairs: it is impossible to keep the lid on such allegations, justified or no.
Compounding the issue is the fact that there is a sense of frustration in the Army that the SAS’s chain of command means it does not answer to the Army but to the Joint Forces Command in Northwood, north London.
In any case, the Army would have done better to issue a statement many months ago, acknowledging that supposed war crimes were being investigated.
In the civilian world, the police often do this, to make plain that they are taking-seriously possible offences committed.
As it is, the Army and the SAS have the worst of all worlds.
Those who look for opportunities to smear them will think the worst, whether or not charges are eventually laid.
The SAS is a huge asset to our Armed Forces and worldwide prestige. But its soldiers cannot be allowed to do their own thing, within or without the law.
True, no wrongdoing has been proved, but this episode emphasises the need to ensure that they act and fight under orders as much as any humble infantry squaddie.