From Newsgroup: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy

It didnrCOt take long for a judge to deliver his withering verdict on a judicial review application into the use of SAS force in an IRA ambush.
The legal challenge over the killing of three Provisional IRA (PIRA) men
in June 1991 was described as rCyutterly divorced from realityrCO by Mr Justice McAlinden. At the High Court in Belfast, McAlinden pulled no
punches:

rCyThis Court is being asked to slow the passage of time down, to analyse events in freeze-frame and to address the issue of absolute necessity in slow-motionrCa It is ludicrous to suggest that this court should analyse
the events of the day in question in that manner.rCO

It is a refreshing change to read of a senior judge executing his office
with brisk common sense which brooks no mealy-mouthed opposition. ItrCOs
also about time: Soldier B, an ex-special forces soldier at the centre
of the case, has been through hell, despite having already been cleared
of wrongdoing on a previous occasion.

Roisin Nugent sought a re-examination of the killing of her father, Tony Doris, by soldiers of the SAS at Coagh in County Tyrone in June 1991. Concluding that NugentrCOs case rCyfails to get off the groundrCO, the judge refused the application for judicial review. He added, sharply, rCyI
cannot conclude this judgment without expressing my surprise that legal
aid funding was made available to mount such a challengerCO.

The circumstances of that fateful day, thirty years ago, make it clear
why this is a case that should never have got as far as it did.

Briefly, what happened that day in Coagh is as follows. Three PIRA
terrorists drove a stolen car from Moneymore, County Londonderry, to
Coagh in order to murder a part-time soldier of the Ulster Defence
Regiment who was a contractor to the security forces in his civilian
life. British intelligence was forewarned of the attack and a detachment
of the SAS had prepared an ambush, one trooper posing as the intended
victim.

When the stolen car came within range, the SAS began sustained automatic
fire, immediately hitting Doris, who was driving. The car, out of
control, crashed into two others parked nearby and caught fire; the
three PIRA men, all shot dead, were badly burned in the blaze. In
Republican mythology, these rCyVolunteersrCO, on rCyactive servicerCO, were rCybrutally slainrCO while fighting rCya war of liberationrCO.

The coronerrCOs verdict was more prosaic. In relation to Soldier B, one of
the SAS personnel involved who fired at Tony Doris, Mr Justice McAlinden recorded that the coroner had found rCythe use of force was reasonable or proportionate in the circumstancesrCO. Moreover, noted the judge, the coronerrCOs rCyreasoning is clear, comprehensive and flawless. He has not missed out on any piece of relevant evidence.rCO

This is good news for British heroes who served in Northern Ireland. The
joint framework for dealing with the rCylegacyrCO of the Troubles, agreed between the British and Irish governments and announced last month, has
given rise to considerable anxiety that ex-members of the security
forces will be subject to vexatious claims and malign persecution for
their actions while doing their job: protecting the public, defending
the realm and upholding law and order.

While former soldiers and police officers should never be given carte
blanche, there has been a sustained attempt to create a ghastly and
pernicious moral equivalence between those maintaining law and order,
and those carrying out killings, maimings and intimidation.

Mr Justice McAlindenrCOs robust judgment is heartening, because it demonstrates that judges are not strait-jacketed by political
agreements, compromises and considerations. It is open to them to see objective facts as any rational observer would, and to shut down
egregious legal exploits accordingly.

But there is a warning for judges, too. This weekrCOs case in Belfast
proves that those who do reach judgements which are muddle-headed,
topsy-turvy and founded on fundamentally mistaken priorities do so
actively and of their own volition. They are not mere cogs in a machine
but independent actors.

Blaming the judiciary is both wrong and simplistic. And, like any concentration on a group rather than its members, it absolves individual judges from responsibility. They are not prisoners of an inescapable
machine. They make their own decisions. Mr Justice McAlinden
demonstrated this week that those decisions can be clear-eyed and commonsensical. He has done us all a great service.

Eliot Wilson
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