Soldiers are treated worse than IRA terrorists
If elderly ex-paratroopers are charged with killings 50 years ago, it will set a terrible precedent
Over the past decade tens of thousands of British military personnel have fought in the steady stream of campaigns mounted against Britain’s foes. From Afghanistan to the more recent one against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), the men and women of our Armed Forces have been required to risk life and limb fighting those who wish to do us harm.
Hundreds have lost their lives, while many more have suffered serious injury, both physical and mental. Moreover, having been prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the service of Queen and country, those who have been fortunate enough to return safely home to friends and family have every reason to believe their ordeal is at an end.
The ability, though, of returning veterans to live without fear of being subjected to legal reprisals can no longer be taken for granted if, as is widely anticipated, Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service decides to press charges against a number of elderly paratroopers over their alleged involvement in Bloody Sunday.
The former soldiers, who are now in their sixties and seventies, will learn tomorrow if they are to face trial over the deaths of 14 unarmed civil rights demonstrators in violent clashes in Londonderry in 1972.
The Troubles claimed the lives of 1,441 British military personnel. So any decision to bring prosecutions against former members of the Parachute Regiment over events that happened nearly 50 years ago is certain to provoke a furore, especially as many of the terrorists involved in the IRA’S murderous campaign against Britain’s security forces received pledges that they will not face charges as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Theresa May has already been urged to provide greater legal protection for British veterans after the Government, under pressure from Sinn Fein, agreed to set up the Historical Investigations Unit to review some of the more controversial episodes.
The other serious implication the Government needs to consider of any decision to bring charges against the former paratroopers will be the worrying precedent it sets for anyone serving, or who has served, in the military.
If the authorities can bring prosecutions against British military personnel over events in Northern Ireland 47 years ago, what is to prevent them from taking similar action 40 years hence on our involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan?
The Armed Forces, let’s not forget, have already suffered the indignity of having charges levelled against them by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, the outfit set up by Gordon Brown that spent tens of millions on promoting spurious claims about war crimes committed by British forces, which subsequently proved to be unfounded.
There have been calls for a similar body to investigate allegations of misconduct in Afghanistan, while the Ministry of Defence set up a special military police unit to investigate war crimes claims by Taliban fighters.
As we have seen in Northern Ireland, the fact that one inquiry fails to find clear evidence of wrongdoing will not dissuade politically motivated campaigners from maintaining a war of attrition against the military.
Bloody Sunday has been subject to several investigations, including the Saville Inquiry which lasted 12 years and cost £200 million.
Consequently, unless the Government takes immediate and effective action to afford those who serve in the military better protection, many veterans of recent wars could face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives fearing possible retribution.
What is particularly galling for the military is that it has strict measures in place to ensure that anyone committing crimes on the battlefield faces the full force of the law, as demonstrated by the case of Alexander Blackman, the Royal Marine sniper jailed for murdering a wounded Taliban insurgent.
Service chiefs pride themselves on upholding the highest standards, with all recruits being required to have a firm grasp of the principles of the Law of Armed Conflict.
And there are now very real concerns that their efforts to boost recruitment will be undermined if the next generation of service personnel believe they have more to fear from endless historic inquiries into their conduct than doing battle with the enemy.
The other factor that needs to be taken into consideration is that politicians will be far less willing to commit British forces to action if they believe that, by doing so, they are merely providing a profitable workload for legions of lawyers.
The Government, therefore, must act to provide veterans with better protection.
At the very least it should provide British soldiers who served in the Troubles the same immunity from criminal prosecution that it has afforded IRA terrorists.