None of our soldiers should ever face prosecution. He only killed a few Irish *****s, anyway. Who gives a ****.
The IRA fought the only way they could, if they chose the 'brave' way, open battle, how long would they last? 5 minutes? They have no air support, no navy, no tanks, it's text-book guerilla warfare, and I don;t doubt we'd think them brave if the roles were reversed, opne man's freedom fighter is the next man's terrorist. Bloody Sunday came about because in 1971 the British Army started launching dawn raids to snatched anyone suspected of being IRA, for a bit of torture and interogation. Not one or 2 hardcore members, but hundreds of people simply suspected of being members, but mostly innocent. Men, women and children, tortured as government policy, by the British Army. so they protested about having innocent family and friends snatched and tortured, and 22 of them were shot dead. What should they have done? as, from my perspective, they had 2 choices, fight back as they did, or continue being treated like vermin.
If they allowed terrorist leaders to become national leaders as a result of good Friday and expect people to forget about all the murders they committed, then they should allow a British soldier, whether guilty or not, to live his few remaining years in peace
I don't know enough about the details of the specific incident nor the rules of engagement, but I agree with those saying this should fall in as part of the GFA. IF it needs to go to a legal trial, shouldn't the charge be corporate manslaughter against those in charge?
Pretty much this. If murdering ****s like McGuiness (until the ****ing **** died, thank ****) and Gerry Adams can walk about masquerading as politicians shaking hands with the Queen, while war criminals like Blair simper and lap it up, then I think the slate should be wiped clean and this forgotten about, to be perfectly honest.
If someone gave me a gun with one bullet and said take your pick, it would go through Gerry Adam's head. No question.
It was a peaceful march ... whether any members of the IRA were there or not does not change that ... I'll reserve judgement on this soldier until more facts are known ... but several elderly Nazis have been tried for war crimes committed decades ago ... and rightly so ... this should be no different .... IF (and I mean if) there is a case to be answered ... the mere passage of time should never be a grounds for exonerating unlawful killing
It's not like it was the first ever march, they'd been happening for years. They were meant to be peaceful but marchers were continuously pelted with bottles etc along their routes by loyalists and got no protection from the RUC. It's no surprise then, that by the time this march came around, along with others around that time, there would've been IRA members in it.
War crimes happen in the heat of battle. We can't let our boys do a job for us with the threat of prosecution looming over them when they get back. Our forces should have a special exemption.
Should all forces then? .. sorry mate ... can't agree with you on that ... just because they are 'ours' doesn't change it ... non-combatants should never be legitimate targets ...
Why stop at Northern Ireland? War crimes are committed in every war. I've never fought in a war but all my mates who have always say the same and that is people will never understand unless they've been there. War is dirty and both sides play dirty. What about WW2? More crimes were committed there than NI. I spoke to a vet in Arnhem who said them and the Germans shot each others padres. Should we go around dragging our vets from their death beds and charge them? Or should we just accept these brave lads have had the balls to step up and protect us all in times of warfare?
