Justice

great interview with General Sir Mike Jackson (Retired) on the Today programme this morning. Surely his position, as well the other Chiefs of Staff, on taking orders to be part of the invasion of Iraq becomes more untenable with every passing disclosure. It is well known that I have a very close family member who is now under a High Court Injunction preventing his freedom of speech.

Now then it is becoming apparent that where he led others have followed in speaking without permission, as an example look at McChrystal and see what has happened to him, and now senior state officials are saying that the military must not give any interviews without permission, and referral of their answers before being printed. In other words censorship.

Now this is how wars are lost, when the truth is suppressed, because it is unpleasant, or is defeatist. Now Jackson must take responsibility for the events surrounding Baha Mousa because from his own words the law is precious, and certainly nobody should be above the law, and the chain of command goes right to the very top.

It is my strong belief that nobody can hide behind the claim that international law is vague on this or that. There was no justification for the war in Iraq, and especially the failure to protect the local population once the war was over.

Do I need to go on and on and on about what I consider to be the illegality of the Iraq situation, well yes I think I do, and one day there will be trials in the International Court, because without the rule of law we are all lost, there can be just wars, there can be but without the rule of law there will be anarchy, because might does not make right, even though some may hide behind their understanding of what they have done, they cannot hide behind I took legal advice and I was following orders. At least one person, on looking into the same laws as the senior officers came down to their view that the war was illegal, and were given an honourable discharge, whilst one would have expected him to be charged and jailed for refusing orders. Some people can live with their consciences, others will eventually wish that they had not followed orders.

There must be trials for the politicians and senior officers, without these trials justice will never be served. There must be justice.

The War

I too am totally amazed at what the public are being sold as being the exit 'strategy'. I mean seriously we have been in Afghanistan since 2001, I mean seriously 2001, and every year it seems to get worse, not better. What concerns me most of all is that no allied troops can trust the soldiers they train, they dare not turn their backs to them when they go on armed patrols.

As for Panthers Claw, it was only after yours truly asked where were the Afghans during the campaign that they were sudeenly mentioned. As for the surge this is the exit strategy, go in kill some people, say we have victory, and now withdraw. We keep hearing of our losses, how many Afghan soldiers or police have died since our general election, how many Afghan civilians, they cannot all be Taliban, have been killed or injured since our general election.

I have still had no satisfactory reference by any of the media as to why there were so few deaths between when the general election was called and when it was held. I don't know Andrew, I get just so angry, and in the meantime Chilcot continues, and surely the media must be taking in all that has come out since Chilcot came back to his hearings, especially after he took his 'evidence' in America. Nobody is picking up the contradictions from evidence given by the likes of Blair, Blair, Straw, and Hoon. I thought that I could begin to wind down, but it seems it is actually getting worse, not better.

I really did hope that somehow my 'job' was done, only it seems not. The economy is a disaster, the environment is a disaster, the war in Iraq was and still is a disaster, the occupation of Afghanistan is totally unsustainable, and Pakistan is in civil war, with India waiting in the wings. The one good thing which can be said is that all the factions in the area of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India continue to live in peace and harmony in our country, and long may that tolerance continue.