Are they being set up?

[Aidey]

Read in todays paper about how some British soldiers are going to be tried for murder, not here in Britian but sent back to Iraq. Apparently its because the Iraqi witnesses wont come to this country. Will they get a fair trial, or is there a political element behind this?
Ive never been in the forces, but I would imagine it must be very difficult to make split second decisions in the field, especially when the option is your life or somebody elses.
And, if they were found guilty, doesnt that implicate Tony Blair too, as the soldiers would never have been there in the first place?

 

[Centaur]

I spent fifteen years in the forces,sometimes in very unpleasant places such as Aden and agree about split second decisions. I have a son in Iraq at present and TRY not to worry about him. However from what I read of this case it was'nt a split second decision. I don't think where it is heard is going to make much difference but if it were my son I would rather the trial was at home.

 

[roXXo]

My opinion. Others may disagree.

I do not think they are being set up.
All armies have rules/conventions. All forces personnel are educated and trained for warfare. In the heat of battle "mistakes and errors of judgement" are made. In my opinion cases such as this do not get this far unless they are very very serious. Yes soldiers are psyched up to kill but not to murder.
If this case was self defence, I believe it would not have gone this far.
If they are found guilty, of course it does not implicate Tony Blair.
I believe the coalition forces had and have a legitimate reason to be in Iraq.
We all have a certain prejudice as to where trials are held and we think that the British justice system, while not perfect, is as good as it gets. So I do not believe that the location of the trial has any bearing on the matter.
:beer:

 

[R2B2]

I heard that that one of the soldiers gave a nine year old girl a Snickers bar. When they passed by on the way back the girl had been killed by some anti coallition nutters for supposed collaboration.

The guy responsible then got a kicking off the soldiers and died.

Don't know if this is true.