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Waging war: Parliament’s Role and Responsibility
This very interesting report by House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution makes truly remarkable reading - remarkable for the lack of respect for the law and the internal contradictions within. The conclusions are a damning inditement of modern politics and how our law makes and politicians protect themselves from the justice they should have to face.
“Our conclusion is that the exercise of the Royal prerogative by the Government to deploy armed force overseas is outdated and should not be allowed to continue as the basis for legitimate war-making in our 21st century democracy. Parliament’s ability to challenge the executive must be protected and strengthened. There is a need to set out more precisely the extent of the Government’s deployment powers, and the role Parliament can— and should—play in their exercise.” This sounds like a good idea but would have no effect what-so-ever since the vast majority of MPs vote to kill children in illegal wars.
“In our view, the possibility—however remote—of, for example, subjecting forces of the Crown to criminal prosecution for actions taken in good faith in protecting the national interest is unacceptable. We also see no merit in legislative architecture which creates the possibility of judicial review of Government decisions over matters of democratic executive responsibility.” - This part of the conclusion is in effect attempting to shield our war criminals from potential prosecution.
Its unlikely that these two parts of the conclusion were written by the same person - one agues that Parliament should have the power to restrain the executive especially in decisions to wage war. The phrase ‘basis for legitimate war-making in our 21st century democracy’ makes my blood boil - war-making is never legitimate whatever the politicians, attorney general or mainstream media would have us believe.