Forces chiefs warn on prosecutions

The number of prosecutions and the fear of prosecution is harming the moral of the troops fighting in Iraq according to former leaders of the armed forces. This is exactly what the US feared would happen and the reason that it did not sign up to the International Criminal Court, we of course did because High Moral Tony could not resist a bit of grandstanding with the armed forces, so it is the troops on the ground who have to not only be looking out for suicide bombers but also looking over their shoulders for knives to the back from the attorney general or 'public interest' lawyers such as

Phil Shiner - who leads a group called Public Interest lawyers and has been acting in relation to the conduct of British troops in post-war Iraq - said the armed forces could not be trusted to administer their own system of justice.

"Everything that we know - and that the attorney general knows - shows us that the military are completely incapable of investigating and prosecuting themselves," he said.

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