[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by jambutty

As for the NI incident, wasn’t the car full of teenagers and all they did wrong was drive through a checkpoint instead of stopping. It was assumed by the army patrol that they were terrorists because they drove through the checkpoint so they opened fire. Thus they killed without just cause and were, quite rightly, court martialled for doing so.

How were the soldiers to know that the teenagers didn't have bombs? Younger kids than them used weapons on a daily basis. Those teenagers were at fault for drivng through the check point without stopping. They knew they were supposed to stop. They knew they ran the danger of being fired upon if they didn't stop. They lived with that siuation 24/7 yet they chose to be defiant.

Perhaps that in itself showed that they supported the 'terrorist' cause.The soldiers were carrying out orders. Their orders were to shoot suspected terrorists if they did not stop when challenged to do so. If they had just let them drive through and they had turned out to be terrorists with bombs wouldn't the soldiers have then been court martialled for disobeying orders? Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Life isn't so crystal clear in the modern army. "I was just following orders" is not apparently a legitimate excuse at any more.