Making the military accountable.
yozz | 08.04.2004 22:37 | Anti-militarism
Potentially this now opens the way for other innocent victims of British troops to claim for damages against the Ministry of Defence. It also raises the question of Troops being held directly responsible for their actions. Any other employee who killed another innocent person while carrying out their duties would be held accountable and criminal charges brought against them for the death. Why should the armed forces be any different?
Yesterday in a High Court ruling the Ministry of Defence was found to have been negligent in the case of Fahri Mohamet, a Kosovan liberation leader shot dead in 1999. Mohamet was a passenger on a car which failed to halt when ordered to by British paratroopers at a peace carnival. The car was then fired on by the paratroopers resulting in Fahri's death and injuries to his cousin Mohamet Bici, while another cousin in the car Skender Bici was uninjured. The MoD was also judged to be responsible for the injury and trauma the two surviving cousins suffered.
In his summing up Mr Justice Elias said: "The Army should be held accountable for such shortcomings, even where the victims are from the very community which benefitted from the Army's assistance. Justice requires no less."
Potentially this now opens the way for other innocent victims of British troops to claim for damages against the Ministry of Defence. It also raises the question of Troops being held directly responsible for their actions. Any other employee who killed another innocent person while carrying out their duties would be held accountable and criminal charges brought against them for the death. Why should the armed forces be any different?
The killing of civilians, or in military speak 'collatoral damage', has over time become acceptable and expected whenever the British state unleashes its troops in a military conflict. But why should innocent civilians, people not involved in or employed by either side in the conflict, be expected to pay with their lives?
Surely in this day and age,the 21st Century, it is no longer acceptable for British Troops to kill unarmed civilians who have no part in the conflicts that these soldiers are employed to fight in. They are employed to kill other troops not to kill and maim the innocent caught up in their actions. Those employed by the state should now be held accountable for the death or injury of every civilian that occurs as a result of their actions while under contract. Likewise negligent employers who place their workforce in this position should be held accountable and made to face the full force of their own laws.
In his summing up Mr Justice Elias said: "The Army should be held accountable for such shortcomings, even where the victims are from the very community which benefitted from the Army's assistance. Justice requires no less."
Potentially this now opens the way for other innocent victims of British troops to claim for damages against the Ministry of Defence. It also raises the question of Troops being held directly responsible for their actions. Any other employee who killed another innocent person while carrying out their duties would be held accountable and criminal charges brought against them for the death. Why should the armed forces be any different?
The killing of civilians, or in military speak 'collatoral damage', has over time become acceptable and expected whenever the British state unleashes its troops in a military conflict. But why should innocent civilians, people not involved in or employed by either side in the conflict, be expected to pay with their lives?
Surely in this day and age,the 21st Century, it is no longer acceptable for British Troops to kill unarmed civilians who have no part in the conflicts that these soldiers are employed to fight in. They are employed to kill other troops not to kill and maim the innocent caught up in their actions. Those employed by the state should now be held accountable for the death or injury of every civilian that occurs as a result of their actions while under contract. Likewise negligent employers who place their workforce in this position should be held accountable and made to face the full force of their own laws.
yozz
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