Britain’s Government is on the brink of a decision that defies explanation.
It is choosing to side with former terrorists against veterans of the Armed Forces.
Our politicians risk betraying every soldier who served to keep the peace in Northern Ireland during the decades of the Troubles, when both Republican and Loyalist extremists were intent on mayhem and murder.
And, for me, this is deeply personal. One of my men died in my arms, a youth of 20, killed while doing his job.
For his killers, and people like them, to be allowed to continue their campaign of hatred through the courts is utterly immoral.
With exceptional bravery, professionalism and dedication, men and women from Special Forces, as well as the regular Army, risked their lives every hour to try to bring an end to this senseless violence.
And now they are being punished for it. While the terrorists have long been granted immunity under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, many soldiers could face prosecution for doing the job they were sent to Ulster to do.
Some of them never came back. The rest live in dread of receiving a summons, and the threat of jail, for doing their duty.
Britain’s Government is on the brink of a decision that defies explanation. It is choosing to side with former terrorists against veterans of the Armed Forces, writes the former SAS. Pictured: Masked members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) escorting the coffin of Bobby Sands, who died on hunger strike at HMP Prison Maze in Northern Ireland. Pictured: File photo
With exceptional bravery, professionalism and dedication, men and women from Special Forces, as well as the regular Army, risked their lives every hour to try to bring an end to this senseless violence, writes the former soldier. Pictured: British soldiers seen on guard after IRA terrorists attacked the Coalisland police station in 1992
The Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, and the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, are in the process of tearing up the Legacy Act, the law enacted by the Conservatives to protect veterans from being dragged to court decades later.
If that protection is abolished, every major anti-terrorist operation against the IRA would likely be rebranded as a war crime.
It is beyond iniquitous – this is outright political insanity, or worse. Labour’s ministers, and, most of all, Sir Keir Starmer, desperately need to rediscover their moral compass.
If the Prime Minister had witnessed what I saw 42 years ago, he would never have lost his ability to distinguish between right and wrong. The difference would be burned into his memory.
I was a 21-year-old Second Lieutenant leading a patrol on the streets of West Belfast. This was a day after the 1983 General Election at which Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was elected as an MP for the first time.
That morning, Adams was holding a press conference. Though counting had not yet
finished, and he had no intention of taking up his seat in Westminster, his election win was a foregone conclusion.
The Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, and the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, are in the process of tearing up the Legacy Act, the law enacted by the Conservatives to protect veterans from being dragged to court decades later, writes the former SAS soldier
My men and I were patrolling part of a nationalist estate a short distance from the publicity event. We were in four units of four, known as ‘bricks’.
I was in the forward position with three soldiers, accompanied by two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers.
One of the men in my brick was Private Geoffrey Curtis, a fresh-faced 20-year-old lad with a heart of gold. As we reached a junction, a girl of about five came running out, stared at us, and scooted off.
We carried on – but, two or three seconds later a massive blast rocked the street. I turned to see Private Curtis mortally wounded. The other two soldiers in my brick suffered superficial injuries.
Later, we learned that a 15lb bomb concealed in a lamppost beside a wall had been detonated by a ‘command wire’ – a thin cable with a battery to trigger the explosion. Private Curtis took the full force of the blast.
This type of bomb is a cold-blooded ambush device, set off by a watcher concealed nearby.
A terrorist murderer had been lying in wait for our patrol. He pressed the button to detonate the bomb, and watched Geoff Curtis die before fleeing like the coward he was. No one has ever been charged with this atrocity.
I believe my life was saved by that little girl. Private Curtis was not the target. It was me, and the two policemen.
The bomb was meant to send a bloody message to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, which had just been re-elected, writes the former SAS soldier
But the IRA killers did not dare risk harming the child, because earlier in the year one had died in a bombing by another terrorist group, the INLA, and local families had reacted with fury.
The bomb was meant to send a bloody message to Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, which had just been re-elected.
Despite Sinn Fein’s success at the polls, the IRA had no intention of achieving its aims by democratic means. The terrorists intended to step up their campaign of slaughter.
It’s inconceivable to me that Gerry Adams did not know about this bombing in advance. It cannot, however, be proven and never will be.
Yet the Labour Government is now considering the prosecution of veterans who served in Northern Ireland.
Some of them are my former colleagues in Special Forces.
After six years as an infantry officer, I applied for duties with 14 Intelligence Company, which is now renamed the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.
In the 1980s, 14Int was made up of servicemen and women from the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, and its selection procedure was exceptionally tough. Of the 260 volunteers who applied in my intake, only 11 finished it.
Today’s Labour Government has, it seems, sympathy with Adams and the former terrorists – so much so that, while 100 Special Forces soldiers have been required to give evidence, very few terrorist volunteers and none of their leaders have been asked to explain their actions, writes the former SAS soldier
Our role was to blend into the streets and countryside and carry out surveillance on terrorists, building a picture of the operations they were planning.
The death of Private Curtis was a major motivating factor for me, because I knew the IRA would never come to the negotiating table as long as they believed they could succeed through violence.
Soldiers, whether they are officers or not, think about the wider implications of the job they are expected to do.
My experiences showed me it had to be ballots, not bullets, that secured peace. Special Forces, along with MI5 and the RUC Special Branch, led the campaign that forced the terrorists to lay down their weapons. It took courageous, principled men and women to effect this.
All aspects of what was accomplished were considered and measured. We were not above the law. But, importantly, we were directed by senior generals and civil servants – and it was the instructions of politicians and Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher that ultimately dictated our strategy and action.
Mrs Thatcher took a keen interest and visited us on operations on several occasions.
The generals, politicians and civil servants do not face the possibility of prosecution. It is the retired soldiers, who were young then and doing their job for the right reasons, who do.
Today’s Labour Government has, it seems, sympathy with Adams and the former terrorists – so much so that, while 100 Special Forces soldiers have been required to give evidence, very few terrorist volunteers and none of their leaders have been asked to explain their actions.
The simple truth is that we all sleep tight in our beds because of the bravery of our Armed Forces.
Everyone who accepts that fact should support the petition to Parliament to stop any proposed legal changes that would enable prosecution of the brave men and women who did their duty.
