UK Soldiers Afraid to Open Fire

The hypotheticals of this are very interesting debating points and all but, nevertheless, the facts are and remain somewhat different.

With each new conflict the usual tendency is to have one or two cases 'allowed' through to the civil courts to demonstrate how the British forces don't shield 'their people' from having to face the rigors of the law like anyone else and as they should.

But anyone who imagines that, in the (actually surprisingly large number of) conflicts the British forces have been involved in post war, that there are legions of poor squaddies who were 'hung out to dry' and who were convicted on various crimes is, quite honestly, fooling themselves.

Investigations and enquiries are one thing, large numbers of people standing in a dock having been found guilty is quite another.

'We' have no long history of a large number of convicted service personnel in the UK and there is absolutely no sign of that changing any time soon.

[edit on 8-6-2006 by sminkeypinkey]