SirGalahd, rest assured I am not having a pop at you or your post.
But which public consumption? Certainly not the majority of British people. We want to rest easy in our beds knowing that our military personnel are protecting us to the best of their ability without fear of prosecution at some far flung future date. Our military personnel also want to know they can rest assured that when they carry out their duties they will not have to consider future implications before they take whatever action is needed to save their, and their colleagues, lives. They have to make split second decisions on what action to take. They can't afford to be going into a situation wondering if what action they take is going to come back and haunt them in future years when they are contemplating retirement and a release of the stress that has built up over the years. I'm sick of reading about friends, or friends of friends, who have, 'crossed the bar to the FRV'. I hear people saying things like, "Well when they signed up they knew what they were signing for." or "They knew one day they may have to kill someone." They signed up in order to protect our country and ALL it's peoples in the fervent hope they would NOT have to kill someone in the process. Thankfully for the majority this actually happens. They become involved in a situation but they, personally, are not responsible for pulling the trigger. Those that do pull the trigger, push the button or whatever, have enough to contend with, (dealing with their split second decisions and actions afterwards), without this background fear. Every action, in every battle is analysed afterwards when there is time and safety to do so. Once it is established the correct action was taken, or lessons can be learnt from what happened, then it should be a closed book. It should not be dragged up 40+years later and twisted and turned out of context of what happened at the time just for the whim of someone who wasn't probably alive at that time or was very young. The time for finding fault, if any existed, is at the time or very shortly after the incident occurred when memories are still fresh and have not been distorted by time and opinions. Once that decision has been verified and agreed upon then the matter should be closed.