Interesting parallel: Pegasus and British soldiers in Iraq

[dadanights.livejournal.com]

Although all of Galactica comments on the nature of war and often I sense intentional parallels to the war the US is currently in, there's a current news item that bears a striking resemblance to events in Pegasus.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1577575,00.html

Two British soldiers were arrested by Iraqi police after allegedly killing civilians. They were locked up in an Iraqi jail, which British forces then stormed with troops and tanks to free them. An Iraqi judge has now issued an arrest warrant demanding their return to custody, and the British are naturally reluctant.

This is pretty much Helo and Tyrol on the Pegasus. We believe in law, but will ignore the law to get back "our" people. Law is in fact one of the themes that crops up in Galactica from time to time. In early episodes, Adama would display open contempt for the civilians attempting to exercise their legal rights, but later we find out that Adama's own father was a lawyer who practiced in the area of human rights. Cylons have no rights, especially on the Pegasus. The constant tension between martial law, representation, and authority... Adama demands a jury trial for Helo and Tyrol, but he certainly skips over legal formalities when he feels the need.

Comments

[hockeyvaughnfan.livejournal.com]

Okay, I decided to delete my previous post (incase youwonder where it disappeared to!) because although like I said I really do think you have a great point about people ignoring laws when it suits them to do so (PapaAdama I'm looking at you!!), I just figured that they whole Iraq side of things was likely to stir up pretty strong feelings on various sides (it's one of those issues that always does) and I don't want to offend anyone with my point of view of the situation that you mentioned - though I still stand by what I said about that situation and the Tyrol/Helo one having some significant differences due to the actual legal issues involved on the ground in Iraq.

[dadanights.livejournal.com]

thanks for correcting me - i should've read some more on the story. It's true that the Iraqis didn't have the jurisdiction to hold the British troops, but just to speak generally, countries don't want their citizens to be subject to foreign laws or face imprisonment in other countries, for obvious reasons.

Basically, Admiral Cain did have the authority to what she did-- Adama just disagreed with the outcome because they were "his" men, a natural attitude in people that leads to all kinds of crazy things in war: fighting with people you otherwise have nothing in common with b/c you're countrymen, excusing the crimes of your people while damning the crimes of the other side... Although the Cylon interrogator was a colossally evil person (I'm still in shock over the attempted rape scene, even hours later), the Galactica's hangar girl (name?) SHOT Boomer-1 and now walks freely around the ship, Roslin put a Cylon out an airlock and almost did the same with Boomer-2, etc. Are the Galactica crew really *that* much better?

[hockeyvaughnfan.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree that Cain did indeed have the authority to do what she did - though she sounds like an example of 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' from what I've heard (won't get the ep's till 2006!!)

And I also agree about countries often not wanting their citizens to be subject to foreign laws/imprisonment, though personally I figure that unless there is something official in place that sets down that this won't be the case then if you break a law in a foreign land you should except the consequences, same as you would have to at home

[leadensky.livejournal.com]

To add another layer into the mix, the reason given for the British reaction to the original arrests was the transfer of the two servicemen from "standard" Iraqi police custody to a radical militia group - one with ties to the insurgents.

So, in this case, who violated "the rule of law" first?

Similarly, Cain's men may have had a reciprical deal struck with Baltar - "you look at our Cylon, we look at yours", so they may have assumed that they *were* operating in accordance with procedures. (I'm going to leave alone who authorized or encouraged rape as a valid "procedure", or whether or not Adama/Tigh/Roslin would have done so.)

This biggest similarity between the incident on the show and the one in Iraq is that they're both a mess of "he said, they said". And curiously enough, we the viewer know far more "facts" about the incident on the show.

(BTW, when you say "Adama would display open contempt" - what did you mean, specifically? Which incident?)

- hg

[dadanights.livejournal.com]

>(BTW, when you say "Adama would display open contempt" - what did you mean, specifically? Which incident?)

Sorry, i don't know specific eps, but i'm thinking of his attitude very early in the show, including the Miniseries, where he assumed command of the fleet and was indifferent to pleas for civil authority and democracy and all that jazz. There was one incident where he actually said, if i recall correctly, "What are you, a lawyer?"

[leadensky.livejournal.com]

The "lawyer" comment might have been from the Astal Queen episode, introducing Tom Zarek. In which case Adama was siding with Roslin against Lee - and against the deal Lee made with a convicted terrorist intent on destablizing the established government and rule of law.

I don't recall Adama in the way you indicate - "indifferent to pleas for civilian authority and democracy". I remember him questioning Roslin's authority to take command of the fleet/civilians, which was shown as being a basic case of Roslin not having a drop of experience at the job, not to mention a dangerously lax attitude towards computer security.

I know that Adama has his faults, and that some fans see him as a threat to the open society that they associate with Roslin, but I'd rather hang the man for the errors he has actually made, rather than assigning him ones that he didn't actually commit.

- hossgal

The British Soldiers

[(Anonymous)]

Ignoring the law when it suits ? Well the so called 'law' we are talking about is mostly corrupt . The soldiers were being handed over to a militia group.......(how is this legal ?) They were rescued from an inevitable violent death.

Re: The British Soldiers

[dadanights.livejournal.com]

I guess that even the Shia militia believes that it's in the right and follows its own (i believe it's called Sharia) law. A different law from ours, granted, but a set of beliefs and punishments, nonetheless.