Pawns in a power game

FIELD-MARSHAL Lord Bramall has rallied behind this newspaper’s campaign to end the legal witchhunt against former front-line soldiers. He said the treatment of some veterans has been “monstrous” and that our military has been let down by politicians.

Lord Bramall – who won the Military Cross in the Second World War – points out that whereas some IRA terrorists who carried out murder have been granted amnesties, British soldiers have been threatened with legal action despite often flimsy evidence.

This injustice cannot be overstated. Retrospective legal action seldom serves a purpose and to use soldiers as pawns in a political game is an affront to our democracy.