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

[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