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Absolutely. What I have found particularly disturbing to be honest are some of the comments in similar discussions on here from fellow members of the legal profession who have cast aspertions on lawyers who represent clients against the MOD.

It makes one realise that the rule of law is not just threatened by government and state (and to an extent it is natural that such a tension should sometimes exist) but by the complacency and sometimes complicity of those who have a professional duty to defend it.

And I can recall a time when a not dissimilar situation had very deadly connotations. The murder of Patrick Finucane took place within days of a government minister attacking lawyers who represented IRA suspects.

These recent legal cases have happened in the context of military conflicts instigated by the powerful western democracies against regimes that have failed massively in regard to respect for the rule of law, with that failure being posed in part as justication for the military action taken.

Is the irony completely lost on those who object to the armed forces and their members being held account legally for alleged serious misconduct?