Ex-British military head blames ‘Establishment’ hatred of our troops for triggering ‘witch hunt’ after fuelling claims of abuse abroad
General Sir David Richards spoke out as anger continues over hundreds of probes into alleged abuses in Iraq by Brit troops
AN ex-British military head yesterday blamed an “Establishment” hatred of our troops for triggering a witch hunt against them.
General Sir David Richards, former Chief of the Defence Staff, said Whitehall pen pushers had a left-wing “instinct” that our soldiers are bad and terrorists good.
He spoke out as anger continues over the hundreds of legal probes into alleged abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan by British troops.
The decorated ex-officer told Commando captain turned campaigning Tory MP Johnny Mercer: “I think this comes out of this instinct somewhere in Whitehall within the Establishment that basically soldiers aren’t good and freedom fighters, we call them terrorists, kill 3,000 people in one go but in the minds of some of these people they are somehow quite good.
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“The idea we’ve got hundreds if not thousands of soldiers who are culpable, anyone who knows any army, let alone the British Army, knows this is not true.” Years of probes have put troops through hell but no one has been charged.
PM Theresa May has vowed our military will opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights in future conflicts to end the slurs by lawyers.
Sir David was speaking in a film by Mr Mercer which featured on BBC2’s Victoria Derbyshire programme.