Responsibilities

Halfway through the autobiography of Rudolph Hoess, commandant of Auschwitz. What strikes me is that he attempted to portray himself as an ordinary soldier, only following orders, and thus he believed that he should be excused his actions and that the criminals were those who were in power i.e. the government of Germany and its officials. These individuals were tried at Nuremburg and punished for their crimes, as was Hoess.

Now fast forward a few decades to the situation in Iraq, where British soldiers are being accused of war crimes by their government, the same people who issued the orders, but the government are unwilling to take any responsibility for their part in these alleged crimes.

This of course is about par for the course with Britain today. The Government are more than happy to promote the civil liberties of one group, to the point of actually infringing the civil liberties of another group, for example the recent concerns over retrospective planning applications for travellers whilst failing to protect the safety and security of nearby residents. And the best part is that the prime minister is married to a leading civil rights lawyer. Time to wake up and smell the coffee Tony...