Courts Martial travesties.

[Mister James]

Does anyone else think we are wasting an obscene amount of effort on prosecuting British soldiers with unfounded accusations?

https://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2032916,00.html

7 men were originally accused of charges ranging between mistreatment of detainees and manslaughter - 1 admitted a lesser charge of 'inhuman treatment of a detainee' - whatever that is!

The cost to the taxpayer is figured at around £20,000,000, for this court martial alone.

Phil Shiner, the lawyer behind the action, has a record of actively seeking out cases against the MoD on behalf of foreign nationals - costing the taxpayer millions upon millions for often spurious cases based on overwhelmingly corrupt evidence.

The whole thing is an annoying sham.
____________________
>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[killa]

Get used to it, some people have jobs to do and need paying, this gives them something to do. These things just run their course, right or wrong.

And in the decades of war that are ahead with the East, this sort of thing will get a lot worse.
____________________
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
Bike:- Yamaha TRX850 | Killas Biking History | Killas Gaming History | Killas autmotive history

[Dazbo666]

[zaknafien]

[Mudskipper]

***Puts hand up***

Me too
____________________
CBR125|||GSXR400|||CBR400|||CBR400|||CB250RS|||GSXR750|||CB250RS
"You're clumsy, you eat too much and you behave like a 12 year old boy. But you know what? Every once in a while, you find a thumb."

[Mr.Everready]

[Mister James]

Well, at least we've been granted an insight into the way your sordid little minds work!

Zak, I expected better from you! Oh, wait, no I didn't!
____________________
>Soultrader Mister James, I bet you are a copper
>Bazza Wow. Eyes like a shithouse rat, you...

[Dazbo666]

[Harley Godzisz]

i thought it too


But then again.. i wouldn't wanna go to war with a gun... i'm too chicken!!!

If World War 3 happens, I'll go shopping at New Look!

[colin1]

If you believe this bit is true,
"The court martial heard that 10 civilians were arrested by members of the QLR in September 2003. They were then handcuffed, hooded, deprived of sleep and forced to maintain a "stress position", during which they were beaten if they dropped their arms. Mr Musa, died as he was being restrained."
I would say the soldiers shouldnt be doing that. Whether you blame the soldiers who do it, or the officers who give the orders is another matter.

However, war is a breakdown of reasonable behaviour, and to pretend that a war, or occupation can be conducted without the suffering of innocents, is a bit niave.

Thats why the Americans insist that while in Iraq, their soldiers are not subject to Iraqi laws or courts, and can basically do whatever the fuck they like.

In reality, any trials involving soldiers in an occupied country are more political than anything else. Sometimes the military will admit blame and other times they wont.

Softening up techniques, or conditiioning used before interrogation are not secret, they have even been shown on tv with a show where civilians get to go throught the sas selection process.

"A fifth man, Corporal Donald Payne, was cleared of Mr Musa's manslaughter. But he admitted to inhuman treatment of the detainees, and will be sentenced on March 30."

Id say that sleep deprivation, and stress positions maintined by threats would be classed as inhuman treatment.

The only reason the soldiers werent convicted, was lack of evidence. A scottish court would have given a verdict of not proven, which is not the same as not guilty.

Deaths in custody are usually avoidable if correct procedures are followed. I used to go out with a girl who used to be a prison officer. Her opinion on the number of deaths in police custody was that most were due to bad restraint techniques, ie everyone pile onto the guys chest, rather than pinning them onto their back by their arms. (Which is the way prison officers do it)

I also met a woman who worked in some kind of private sector secure mental unit for troublesome youths, and she said similar things about the slapdash techniques used by some staff. In particular the danger of restraining someone face down on the floor. She had worked at places where patients had died in custody due to incorrect restraint of this type. She got paid more in the private sector place than when she had been a mental nurse for the NHS, but she said the regime was more brutal and wasnt happy with the way things were going, as some staffs attitude was complete control at the expense of patient welfare, to the extent of casual violence for minor misdemeanors with no concern about leaving marks..

I suspect that soldiers are even less well trained than police officers or mental nurses on restraint techniques.

If they are being asked to soften up people for interrogation, and the people resist, accidents are quite likely to happen. I doubt they intended to kill, but thats not much consolation to the dead guys family.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god