Soldiers betrayed

BACK in 2001 the Chief of the Defence staff, admiral sir Michael Boyce, warned tony Blair it would be a huge mistake to sign Britain up to the flawed international Criminal Court.

the U.s. had already refused to sign up, pointing out that the court’s broad autonomy and jurisdiction would lead to politically motivated indictments, such as its partisan approach to israel.

sir Michael told a parliamentary committee: ‘ a serviceman, carrying out orders he believes to be entirely proper, could find himself in front of the international Criminal Court.’ the reckless Prime Minister waved away these fears, lied that he had the support of the other service chiefs and signed us up in 2002. now Boyce’s fears have been fully justified.

to make things worse, soldiers must ‘prove their innocence’ before other quasi-legal bodies such as the iraq Historic allegations team and the iraq Fatality investigations unit. Meanwhile, dubious agents scour iraq for new ‘victims’, receiving money from our ambulance-chasing lawyers and demanding a cut of any damages awarded in Uk civil courts.

our soldiers risked being killed or maimed in a brutal, dirty war. abandoning them now to the mercy of our rapacious lawyers and their opportunistic clients is a grotesque betrayal. Rev Dr JOHN CAMERON, St Andrews, Fife.