Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Former military chief’s fears for future operations
PROSECUTING British soldiers over Bloody Sunday would set a dangerous precedent for the Army’s future operations around the world, a former military chief has said.
Lord Ramsbotham added he is hopeful troops from support company of the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment will not face charges 47 years on.
The 84-year-old revealed there is “profound” concern within the Army about the effect such prosecutions might have on a soldier who, he said, “only obeys an order”.
Lord Ramsbotham added: “The position of a commander giving an order to somebody to open fire, if it’s likely to end up in court, the soldier receiving the order and the person giving the order will think twice about it in the future.
“And that could have very serious implications if we’re defending this country. I’m thinking outside the box, as it were, and Londonderry.
“But I am thinking in terms of the command and control of the Army as a whole.”
Lord Ramsbotham, who was then Lieutenant Colonel David Ramsbotham, was in London when he took a phone call on the evening of Sunday January 30, 1972, telling him people had been killed at the civil rights march.
He said, “I was obviously very sorry that lives had been lost”, and recalled General Sir Michael Carver, then head of the Army, had been “appalled” by the news.
He and General Carver visited the regiment a week after the shootings and Lord Ramsbotham “got the impression that the regiment was full of remorse for what had happened and was obviously nervous about the inquiry into what was going on, what had happened”.
He added: “I’m hoping nobody will be prosecuted but I’m hoping the Government will step in and help them [if they are prosecuted] and give them all the legal help they require because they owe it.”