Vocal Voices

First off, well done to the BBC for making a documentary on the subject and making it a fair one too. I have the greatest sympathy for Sgt Blackman, who shot a wounded Taliban dead in Helmand province, Afghanistan in 2011 and is serving time for it.

He was in charge of a group of young marines who had been in heavy combat for day after day. Film from the scene showed that his young troops were angry at the wounded Taliban and were in no mood to treat him or call for medical help for him. One indeed offered to shoot him in the head.

Blackman was left with a wounded enemy to deal with and angry and restive troops under his command. What he was obliged to do was to call for medical aid. This would have involved five British vehicles coming up a route which was known to be lined with explosive devices, or calling in a helicopter to evacuate the wounded Taliban, into an area where there had been a firefight that morning and several over the previous few days. Either option would have put more British lives seriously at risk.

So he did what he did. Wrong, but I wonder what the legal eagles who put him in jail would have done in his shoes?

I thought the ides of warfare was to kill the enemy?

It's these trouble-making, greedy legal boys who should be punished. They make a mockery of
the legal system just to make money.

There is not a judgement on earth that would satisfy all parties - they would all be wrong in the minds of some.

What worries me, and should worry all our troops in whatever force, as well as the MOD, is that his Courts Marshall apparently did not have the option of manslaughter. Had it had that power his sentence could have been handed down at least by people who might possibly have been in a similar situation to his at some time. All of the current publicity and media circus could have been avoided.

Naturally, as ex forces, I take it that serving officers would have had a better appreciation of his action than some college and University taught legal eagle. He did wrong, so he should not have been let off, but why he did wrong should have played a greater part in the case than the raw "he shot an injured man in the chest" we have been told over and over.

Workingman wrote:why he did wrong should have played a greater part in the case than the raw "he shot an injured man in the chest" we have been told over and over.

Absolutely agree.

I didn't see the documentary but if I am reading the Times report of the incident correctly, the troop was virtually unsupervised by the relevant Ruperts, had lost discipline and was beginning to become a law unto itself. It is difficult to blame the soldiers on the ground for that, given the conditions they faced, constant attacks and IEDs - but there can be no condoning of what Marine A did. The transcript from and timeline of the incident I've seen reported is pretty damning.

Yes, murder was a wrong verdict, manslaughter with diminished responsibility seems the fair verdict, but I would not let Marine A back out onto the streets until the psychologists are sure he isn't a threat to the public. PTSD. I'm only a layman, I'm not a military man, but I wouldn't want him as a neighbour.

And someone needs to have a look at the command and control structure of the Marines, because what has emerged doesn't look good.

Marine A is not a threat to the public on the street.

A threat to someone who's stated goal in life is to murder him, his buddy and anyone else like him who that person could get to? Absolutely.

In his position I would have given basic first aid, left supplies for him to use and moved on. Were I then questioned afterwards we could debate the application of the Geneva Convention when dealing with Terrorists and the thread to my own command who were my responsibility.

If it were before WW2, I'd have shot him and moved on. It would have been kinder than leaving him to die in pain. But, of course, we're now such "good" people who will put the lives of those who care in danger to rescue those who not only would kill them, but have killed them and would do so again given the opportunity.

The lunatics are running the asylum and we will all pay the price in the long run.