Do Not Get Me Started: Who would be on your hit list?
The age old ice breaker question that crops up at parties, and even some awkward dates, “If you could kill anyone, who would it be?” Well, I know my answer, and I also know that no matter who the target or why they are written down under the title of ‘Hit List’, there will be no law on the planet that would sanction it.
Habib Rahman has the same idea and has decided to take action recently for the ‘precision air strike’ in Afghanistan which left five of his relatives dead in September 2010; all due to a name being on the JIPTL (Joint Integrated Prioritised Target List) which was related to his family. At that time, the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) said it was focused on a Taliban commander who was killed during the attack, yet the real issue here for Mr Rahman is how far the UK is involved and what their participation is in the compilation of such a list; but of course the MoD have stated that they act within the British Law system, let alone the Geneva Convention, but to be honest; who really cares?
Obviously the deaths of innocents during the air strike were an outrageous casualty in this increasingly shadow and dagger style approach to terror and war; but isn’t it necessary in a way to get things done these days? With all the health and safety regulations, laws and human rights passages embedded into everything we possibly do, to actually act as a soldier or a man in any sense of war it is impossible! I know that if there was someone that needed rid of and I had the means to complete such a mission, I wouldn’t be worrying about the red tape! Everyone is so concerned these days about the effect it has on minority groups, or the political stability of a nation or what the news will present it as; but in reality, not everything that is good for a country comes through easy or positive within the media.
The fact that newspapers are now reporting this attack in Afghanistan as a ‘breach of international humanitarian law’ is ridiculous, the reason why the threat of terrorism is so huge and the reason why these men are able to seize power is because they do just that: seize it. They don’t care for the humanitarian laws and with people such as those we should not exercise such a huge amount of restraint. Obviously I don’t want to lose all sense of dignity within war, and I don’t think we should go to the level of terrorists, but there is only a certain limit to what paperwork and words can achieve.
The Serious Organised Crime Agency and the MoD have the right idea with the JIPTL, it is an easy way to identify threats and maybe even sort them out in the long run (though too long for me personally), and so what if the UK is involved? I know there are more serious threats in this country at the moment than terrorism, but with the heightened state of alert at the Olympics and the growing concern of immigration within this country; what would be the harm in the UK being involved with a ‘Hit List’ such as this?
I think in the long run, to have a list of people that will be possible threats, will help identify the problem areas before they appear, and maybe this should be a step employed in Syria as well as Afghanistan at the moment, but that is another point entirely. In general I just believe so much pressure is put on the ‘warriors’ of today, whether in the battlefield or parliament, that nothing can get done without someone moaning. And if that is the case, then I am surprised anything gets done these days; I know for a fact I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now if I had listened to every single person that ever moaned or complained about a decision I made. The UK is well within its rights to protect the country against threats, and if the JIPTL is a way in which they can achieve this I wholly support it.
It would probably make quite a few people’s lives easier if you had a ‘hit list’ of people you should keep an eye on, I know in my mind during writing this article I have at least six people on mine…
