powers with forces

Off late I have been reading quite a few articles on the powers bestowed on the armed forces, whether they need to be given that, whether they abuse the powers and whether they use their powers against the innocent. While I don't have any direct experience, I do feel pretty strongly on what they face in their work and what they face in public and the press. One thing we all forget while criticizing the armed forces is the people they are against. I am not for the atrocities and misuse of power. Its all the more important that the armed forces don't do it because such acts means life and death for people.

But for a moment we need to think what they are pitted against. They are not playing a game of football where everyone plays by the same rule. Here their opponent is a criminal who care nothing more than their immediate mission. And that's to kill. In such circumstances, the forces certainly need some leeway. The rules and laws are not exactly in conjunction with the reality that the forces operate in. From my little knowledge of how things operate, it would be very very difficult to catch criminals and terrorists if the forces were not given extra judicial authority, given some leeway in the way laws are interpreted. We should remember that they put their lives in danger and cannot always be worrying if they are obeying every law that applies here when they have to fight for their lives - and ours.

Its another issue that the leeway and flexibility should not be misused. And all the deference should be justified before competent authority. We do it all the time. When we have a patient who needs immediate medical care, we really don't care to follow all the road rules. We may break them, and can justify that. I think the armed forces deserve a little bit of that. As with most areas, and professions, the personnel at the armed forces are also bound to deviate from the norm and misuse it. Dealing with criminals day in and day out can make you a little bit of a criminal yourself. Its not a justification. Its the sorry state of human mind.

The examples are numerous with respect to misuse. Yet it might have been a misuse and abuse that would have saved a million lives. We don't hear about them. When the abuse consumes an innocent life, its news. It should not have happened? What should not have happened? The misuse by itself or the misuse on innocent people?

If things don't work at our jobs, big deal. The outcomes are predictable. There in a battlefield, its a horrible world. Actions have consequences beyond our comprehension. The risks and threats are too great for any law to provide protection to the armed forces and their family. There is nothing to stop the criminal from acting on a soldier's family. We don't face that in our work.

I do believe they need some leeway and advantage given where and how and against whom they operate. Misuse of power is wrong. Whoever wherever whenever. The solution is not in denying them the power. Or in handicaping them and yet expecting results in a tough dirty playground. Its in educating them what it means when they misuse it. Sounds simple. But in a moment of pressure and life and death, when thousands of life are at stake, they might think sacrificing a single innocent life is ok in order to save a 1000 innocent lives. Its for the society to decide whether they would be ok with it or rather not have even a single innocent person get wrongly punished.