Petition to stop prosecutions of NI Vets

[Goldstone1976]

A veritable panoply of posters on this thread with whom I suspect I'd disagree about most political topics. But not this one. Signed.

 

[GT49er]

Signed.

 

[alfredmizen]

Well done and thanks to everyone who has signed so far.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Done

 

[maltaseagull]

done

 

[Spicy]

Signed and will share.

 

[Paskman]

Thought it was something to do with animal cruelty in Ulster [emoji15]........

Signed

 

[hart's shirt]

Signed - currently at 9,190 signatures.

At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition
At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Here's a petition worth signing.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/175823

If there was a 'shoot to kill policy' it was wrong and people should be brought to book. But those people sure as hell ain't Private Fit-up and the rest of the 1st Scapegoat regiment .

Agree - if illegal policies were implemented, then those that a. drafted those policies, and b. issued the order, are the ones who should be brought to book.

I'm not going to sign the petition though - I disagree with any premise that you 'can't commit a crime in a war zone'. IF any of our troops acted illegally then they should be subject to investigation. Of course there are huge mitigating circumstances, and those should be given full consideration - on a case by case basis.

I completely understand people's anger at the unfairness of the situation, where the other side are granted impunity, but two wrongs don't make a right, IMO in this case.

 

[smeg]

Here's a petition worth signing.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/175823

100% agree, signed

 

[Lord Bracknell]

This is about allegations of torture, is it not?

Is there not a special responsibility that sits upon the shoulders of our armed forces - including compliance with the letter of the law that forbids the use of torture to obtain confessions? I can't see a case for absolute immunity from prosecution. By all means allow a defence that recognises the particular circumstances of each case, but beware of anything that appears to licence torture.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Signed

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Signed

However 9,343 is not as high as I would have expected, having said that the generation that love all this email petitions etc were probably not alive at the time of the troubles and cannot relate to the issues or simply don't care.

 

[Buzzer]

This is about allegations of torture, is it not?

Is there not a special responsibility that sits upon the shoulders of our armed forces - including compliance with the letter of the law that forbids the use of torture to obtain confessions? I can't see a case for absolute immunity from prosecution. By all means allow a defence that recognises the particular circumstances of each case, but beware of anything that appears to licence torture.

I can see a very good case for immunity from prosecution and it's quite simple. I want the same standards applied to British soldiers as that that have been applied to Gerry Adams and his IRA chums. There's a very compelling argument that he was complicit in the torture and murder of Jean McConville yet we've been told that there's no public appetite for bringing a prosecution against Adams because it would harm the peace deal. If the UK Government and Irish Republicans are happy to brush under the carpet the most brutal of murders of a mum of 9 and perfectly happy for the alleged perpetrators to hold office in NI politics then there is absolutely NO moral argument for only pursuing British soldiers for alleged torture.

I'll tell you why this is happening - it's that IRA-loving NI Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory. He's running his own private crusade against the British Army and for the sake of peace in NI, he needs to be removed from office and someone with less of an axe to grind appointed in his place.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I understand what you are saying, Buzzer, but in my view there is an over-riding factor that can't be ignored. It's whether the Peace Process might be threatened by a change in current practice. It's a few years since I last visited Northern Ireland, but I can recall quite clearly conversations I had with former (protestant) activists who could see the benefits of a lasting "peace and reconciliation" process.

It may be that things are particularly volatile at the moment. All the more reason to be very careful how sensitive matters inherited from the past are handled. And that applies to McGrory as well.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Interesting

[tweet]827127543572598784[/tweet]

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

Interesting

[tweet]827127543572598784[/tweet]

Very, even though a different war

These are the very people who will benefit the most through abuse of power and financial gain

A human rights lawyer who brought abuse claims against UK troops after the Iraq War has been struck off for misconduct.
Phil Shiner, from the now-defunct law firm Public Interest Lawyers, had 12 charges of misconduct proved against him by a panel of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
He had admitted acting recklessly by publicly claiming UK troops unlawfully killed, tortured and mistreated Iraqis.
The defence secretary said Mr Shiner had "made soldiers' lives a misery".
Michael Fallon told the BBC he was "delighted" that Mr Shiner had been "exposed".
"The decent thing for him to do now would be to apologise," he said.
In five of the charges found proved he was found to have acted dishonestly, including agreeing to pay "sweeteners" to a fixer, understood to be Abu Jamal, to persuade him to change his evidence to the £31m Al-Sweady Inquiry.
Mr Shiner previously admitted nine allegations of acting without integrity, including that he had made unsolicited approaches to potential clients.

 

[Buzzer]

I understand what you are saying, Buzzer, but in my view there is an over-riding factor that can't be ignored. It's whether the Peace Process might be threatened by a change in current practice. It's a few years since I last visited Northern Ireland, but I can recall quite clearly conversations I had with former (protestant) activists who could see the benefits of a lasting "peace and reconciliation" process.

It may be that things are particularly volatile at the moment. All the more reason to be very careful how sensitive matters inherited from the past are handled. And that applies to McGrory as well.

I couldn't agree more and I think this single issue of hounding British soldiers is the single biggest risk to the peace process and whilst it's not ideal that genuine cases of torture by British soldiers might go unpunished, a level playing field approach of treating all sides equally is the only one that can probably be agreed by all sides and is in any way "fair".

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

At the rate these things are escalating into War Crimes I'm now waiting for a knock on the door for my part in programming nuclear weapons towards Russia and other unnamed countries in the Cold War

 

[Thunder Bolt]

At the rate these things are escalating into War Crimes I'm now waiting for a knock on the door for my part in programming nuclear weapons towards Russia and other unnamed countries in the Cold War

And me for sending the signals.