Veronique, i only said they werent angels and they were armed. There were good ones and a lot of bad ones who i wouldnt spit on nevermind anything else.
Perhaps youâre missing the actual experience of living there to have a grasp of the reality. The various paramilitaries are notoriously known in the Province, their various slogans advertised in colourful murals across the various sectarian areas. You have, however, raised the intriguing contradiction of a population being offered the protection of the State against a terrorist force that is, at the same time, giving support and succour to the terrorists. An impossible situation to manage since " the enemy " is both unseen and all around. Bloody Sunday was the result of the army feeling under attack by the whole population and given that the Nationalist population was anti - British, perhaps soldiers were right to feel threatened by apparent non- combatants.
I should like you to rehearse these sentiments to the widows and children of the 300 police officers who were murdered by the IRA and other Nationalist organisations.
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Actually I was at school with a lot of people whose nearest and dearest were killed in Northern Ireland. No problem repeating those sentiments to anyone.
Interesting assumptions. You are wrong, as it happens, but further discussion is clearly pointless.
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The opening statement by Tim, asks if it was the right decision.
I say no it wasnât and isnât, and like one or two others here, I was serving in the forces between '74 & '94.
I know how hard they train the people of the 3 different services and within their individual units. I can only imagine ( although i have been in other stressful situations) what it would be like as a soldier on those streets at that time⌠anyone who can just google and call up literature to back up which side of the fence you may be on⌠i would like to put you on that street at that time and see how you fare.
If you canât do that⌠then donât judge those that have.
what this individual did , COULD been wrong , and if so dealt with by the military courts a the time. Not now under pressure from a ( still) militant group out for revenge.
They even put kids on the streets who werenât born then , with pictures. That is indoctrination.
If i was asked now if i would enlist in the military, i would tell to put it where the sun doesnât shine, and whats more, I hope this causes a true dearth in people joining the forces for years to come. That may ( but probably not), make the government actually back the personnel who do their dirty work, to put trust back into their services which now will be at an all time low.
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Bravo Glenn . Well said.
Being at school with âa lotâ of people isnt the same as being there. The only people who are wrong are those that judge without being there and living through it on a day to day basis.
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I have serious doubts that military courts would have done anything except obscure what happened. The military police have demonstrated their inability to do anything useful as evidenced by their ham-fisted âinvestigationâ at Deepcut Barracks . There is no statute of limitations on murder.
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Unless of course you happen to be a terrorist.
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David, the military police arent policemen even though they thnk they are. They are soldiers just like the rest. Most of them would be late for their own funerals due to incompetency.
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I have just been made aware of this publication⌠very interesting reading for several reasons, especially concerning recent posts on SF .
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Very interesting account of an incident where an experienced soldier feared for his life and didnât shoot his suspected foe.
The Bloody Sunday incident alleges that soldiers acting ostensibly under orders shot innocent and unarmed civilians and there are parallels there. But the main difference is that the soldiery lied to cover up their errors, and manufactured evidence to suggest that they were fired on, and acted only in self-defence, when they either panicked or acted out of malice aforethought.
The trial will establish the facts. Justice will be done. I sincerely hope and trust that Soldier F will be exonerated, because he should not be scapegoated for a political disaster not of his making.