The SAS are worried. Britain’s most elite military unit have come face to face with the IRA, the Taliban and Isis. But the enemy that really concerns them doesn’t carry a gun or wear a suicide belt. It’s the phalanx of lawyers they think are coming for them, armed with a deadly weapon: the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Many SAS soldiers now believe that if they pull the trigger during an operation and kill a terrorist, they’ll spend decades being hounded through the courts. They don’t trust the chain of command to look after them. They accuse politicians of a ‘betrayal’. That’s hurting morale and may eventually hit recruitment. We may all end up being less safe because of it.
This picture of discontent inside the SAS comes from George Simm, a former Regimental Sergeant Major, who wore the winged dagger for 23 years. I could not speak to serving soldiers or officers: the SAS observe a strict omertà.
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