Nine UK four-star generals, in an open letter to Government, warn that human rights lawfare is a direct national security threat, “Today every deployed member of the British armed forces must consider not only the enemy in front but the lawyer behind”.
Armistice day serves to remind ordinary citizens of the UK that their freedom has been bought at the cost of lives especially of those who served in our armed forces. Because of the selflessness of those who made the ultimate sacrifice most Britons have never had to endure the terror of fighting a war for the life of the nation. And today this country needs its armed services more than ever as, it is widely accepted among experts, the security threats to this country are greater than they have perhaps ever been in most living memories. Should not those who protect us be held in the highest esteem in the highest esteem and be especially looked after?
The nine generals chose Armistice Day to explain how obsessive human rights lawyering endangers the country as soldiers’ trust in the moral contract they rely on is eroded. Especially today they warn that the Government’s Northern Ireland Troubles Bill risks weakening the operational effectiveness of the armed forces. The IRA were terrorists, bombing and murdering innocent men, women and children, and these generals deplore this Bill which puts these terrorists on the same legal plane as the soldiers who risked everything resisting them under orders of the Government of the UK. The letter appears in full in the Times of 11 November. They warn the PM and the Attorney-General, both human rights barristers by trade and so idolisers of the European Law on Human Rights that an “ever-broadening interpretation of The European Convention on Human Rights is being used against those who act under lawful authority of the Crown”. That soldiers who fought in the Troubles may still be living under the threat of legal proceedings, after decades have passed, is a grave offence against them.
Increasingly it seems armies of lawyers are available to anyone who alleges a crime by our soldiers in combat and there is little done by Government to protect them. The call by the Generals for Government to reaffirm the rules of combat, disapplying human rights laws, but in effect holding those who serve their country to appropriate standards in war. Surely Government should be protecting them from the pious hindsight of those who have never faced a conflict where their lives were at risk. The nine generals assert that our special forces, the SAS and SBS, are losing essential personnel who daily protect this country, unsung braves, because of the risks of legal exposure without Government support. It is reported that Government, led by human rights barristers rejects the nine generals’ criticisms. Might there not be at least elements of validity in the assertions and opinions of nine four-star generals?
Treatment of our service personnel must engender trust. We need to encourage men and women to join the forces, and the current legalese led by the PM and Lord Hermer merely puts the country at risk. Is not the clarity of the position of those who fight to protect us fundamental? The nine generals’ letter ends “A new, honest framework is required. The Troubles Bill achieves nothing – and ongoing lawfare risks everything.”
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