Mr Fitzsimons posted details about his military past on a Facebook page set up to honour fallen service personnel. He tells of his time in 2 Para and his 3½ years in private security work. He advises soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan: “Stay safe and to those who will return to fight a different battle … A war inside your head.”
Ever since this story came out in regards to the Armor Group shootings and this Fitzsimons guy, I have been thinking about the FJ point of view on this. More specifically, the Jundism point of view. The one thing I keep coming back to as far as the correct point of view, is ‘have the courage to do what is right’ or in the case of this story, have the courage to say what is right.
Even though this guy killed two of his comrades in cold blood, as well as wounding an Iraqi, I think what is even more important out of all of this, is that Mr. Fitzsimons gets a fair trial in Iraq. And if he cannot get a fair trial there, then I think it would be better to get him back to the UK to try him. I want justice, as do most, but I do not want to witness something that is even more ‘ugly’ and vile. So the question is, would he get a fair trial in Iraq?
Undoubtedly, contractors are not liked in Iraq, and it would not surprise me that he would be given a death sentence in Iraq. And you know, the death sentence is a part of the Iraqi justice system (they have hanged quite a few guys, to include Saddam). It’s just that in this case, Fitzsimons killed an Australian and a Briton, and wounded an Iraqi, while in Iraq. I guess he would fall under the laws of Iraq, based on the SOFA agreement, but there is an argument that he should fall under British law or even UCMJ, if he was under contract through a DoD gig. I don’t know, but I do know that the imagery of a contractor hanging from the gallows of Iraq would be quite the message. Not only to the industry but to the public and especially to Iraqis. That message is another area we need to go over.
