I agree with anniebach. We either have rules as to how soldiers should behave on all "sides" or else say everyone can do whatever they feel compelled to do, on the basis that "it is a war situation".
The circumstances regarding the case in which Leigh Day was involved do sound very "fishy", I agree. But it is going to a disciplinary committee and if a solicitor is found to have been dishonest, she/he will be disbarred. As to the "ambulance chasing" accusation, how else people from overseas going to be alerted that they may have a claim?
In the I on Saturday - Britain's "most senior military lawyer at the start of the Iraq war has condemned the MoD for attacking law firms representing Iraqi claimants - and claims British forces were guilty of unlawful killing and torture in some cases. He said "This isn't just about human rights lawyers; there were plenty of people within the military and the military legal community who raised their concerns as well, and are still doing so."
I agree that unless someone has been in a war situation they cannot truly understand the degree of pressure that soldiers experience. However, I can see no justification for hushing up the cases of soldiers who have allegedly tortured prisoners or unarmed soldiers or beaten them to death and these cases must not be hushed up. They will have the benefit of medical and psychiatric reports to establish whether or not they were suffering from PTSD or some other mental condition at the time in question.
If successive British governments were/are truly concerned about the welfare of armed services personnel, perhaps they should concentrate on providing them and their families with decent accommodation, timely and excellent counselling and medical assistance, and help with finding new paid or voluntary work or interests if they are invalided out of the forces. In the Telegraph in 2008 it was reported that injured veterans who received a pension were then denied income support. This included a man who was receiving £58.04 per week army pension.
