tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14237465.post112224994813099287..comments2024-03-22T19:12:22.089+11:00Comments on One Salient Oversight: Killing in the name of...?Neil Cameron (One Salient Oversight)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03143948543305522865noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14237465.post-1122396838990234622005-07-27T02:53:00.000+10:002005-07-27T02:53:00.000+10:00It will be interesting to see if this ever gets to...It will be interesting to see if this ever gets to court and what comes of it all. Even if the police officer was acting within the rules of engagement we all know that "following orders" is no excuse if the action itself was still illegal. Murder is still murder even if your rules of engagement tell you to shoot terrorist suspects in the head -- that is unless parliament has changed the law regarding murder or a recognised defence applies.<BR/><BR/>I have not kept up to date with all the legal toings and froings in the UK over the response to terrorism. But I doubt whether there was a specific law passed to allow police officers to shoot terrorist suspects dead. I still have some faith in the British understanding of the rule of law! In other words (unless I'm mistaken) armed police are still (like everyone else in Her Majesty's Britannic realm) subject to the prohibition of murder.<BR/><BR/>So the policeman could be charged with murder and he would then have to plead a defence in court. The defence of necessity comes to mind. Then we would get an interesting legal bunfight over whether the action was necessary in the circumstances. This would in turn give rise to the question of the appropriateness of the "rules of engagement" and whether following them was adequate in the circumstances.<BR/><BR/>But I doubt very much that it will ever come to any of that. The British government will make sure that it never comes to a criminal trial.<BR/><BR/>These are interesting and challenging times for the law. This doesn't appear to be some rogue policeman going on a shooting spree. It appears af if he was doing what he was told to do by his superiors in response to the very real threat of suicide bombers. Yet the fact remains that an innocent man was shot dead by the police -- an arm of the state.<BR/><BR/>We had no trouble condemning those arms of the Nazi German state who in "following orders" murdered innocents. So what's the difference this time? Well, for a start it is much harder for us to condemn "our own". After all, the Nazis were the bad guys working for an evil regime. So their killing of innocent people had to be brought to justice, right? But we're "the good guys", fighting the terrorists, so it's inevitable that a few people will be caught in the cross-fire, right? Well maybe, maybe not. I fear we're not honest enough to even start asking ourselves these kind of tough questions.<BR/><BR/>Unless the British government now wants to (a) admit culpability in allowing these rules of engagement and (b) distance all the police in London who have to respond to terrorist threats I don't think they'll be putting this policeman on trial.<BR/><BR/>I say all that trying to be as neutral as possible. I don't know all the facts and am not in a position to judge whether the actions of the police were right or wrong in the circumstances.<BR/><BR/>In retrospect we know the late Mr Menezes was not a suicide bomber. I'm terribly sorry for what happened -- as I'm sure is everyone else on God's earth, including the policeman who pulled the trigger. I honestly don't think any policeman would want to kill an innocent person. I'm not so cynical. The police do a very difficult job in very difficult circumstances which I don't envy. <BR/><BR/>But the fact remains that the police who should have protected him ended up killing him.<BR/><BR/>And there is a small question of justice. What would God want us to do in response to the death of an innocent person? And to what extent can we imperfect humans begin to implement justice in a world marred by sin?<BR/><BR/>Jean Charles de Menezes may the God of perfect justice have mercy on you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com