Colonel who quit Marines in protest pleads: Now give him a fair hearing
ALEXANDER Blackman’s excommanding officer spoke for the first time yesterday of the ‘acute stress’ the sergeant was under when he killed a Taliban fighter.
Colonel Oliver Lee said the court martial that condemned the Royal Marine to a life sentence for murder was not balanced, and demanded he be treated ‘justly’ at a new hearing.
Last year the Mail revealed how Col Lee, the youngest Royal Marine to hold the rank of colonel since the Second World War, had resigned his commission in disgust at the way Sgt Blackman was treated.
He became the sergeant’s commanding officer just days before the 2011 shooting of the Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan.
Col Lee had offered to give mitigating evidence in support of the commando at his trial, but was blocked from doing so by top brass.
He quit the military in response,
‘Imperative he be treated justly’
privately branding it a ‘failure of moral courage by the chain of command’, but did not speak publicly about his decision until yesterday.
‘I took a view that the proceedings against Sgt Blackman hadn’t been balanced and that in order for him to be dealt with justly – I don’t seek to condone his behaviour or exonerate him from his responsibilities – but in order for him to be dealt with justly, not leniently, a much more balanced and full picture…needed to be presented to those who were making fundamental decisions surrounding his future,’ Col Lee told BBC Radio 4’s Today.
‘I think the stresses to which he was subjected at the time were very acute indeed and I think those things should have been considered very carefully.’ The ex-officer added: ‘What should happen to him now – and it’s why I’m extremely pleased about the outcome of yesterday’s CCRC announcement – is that his case is considered in the round, in the broadest sense, such that he is dealt with in a fair manner.’
Had he not been prevented from doing so, Col Lee would have told Sgt Blackman’s court martial about Operation Herrick 14 in Helmand.
Sgt Blackman’s troop had been left at breaking point manning a remote outpost during the sixmonth tour in which seven Marines were killed and some 45 maimed.
The isolated commandos were supposed to pursue Downing Street’s ‘hearts and minds’ strategy – but were shot at every time they left their compound. The Taliban taunted them by displaying body parts of their comrades in a tree.
Col Lee told the Mail: ‘This episode has been tragic for an organisation so special and distinguished. I have always felt it imperative that he be dealt with justly.
‘I do not believe that the proceedings against him to date have allowed him to be dealt with justly, as they have not considered a series of highly material factors that are well known to influence conduct on the battlefield. It is for this reason that I decided with great sadness to leave the Royal Marines.’
Col Lee and Regimental Sergeant Major Steph Moran have both expressed support for Sgt Blackman’s appeal, having been barred from giving crucial evidence to his trial – a scandal which the MoD later tried to cover up.
Yesterday ex-soldier Richard Drax MP, who has visited Sgt Blackman in jail, said: ‘I think Al was under huge pressure. He’s an honest, decent and very professional soldier. He made a mistake and admits it.’