UK Special Forces are the best of the best and we must give them our support
The SAS and indeed all of UK Special Forces are the elite of the elite and allow Britain to punch well above its weight on the world's defence and security stage.
As George Orwell pointed out, people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf – and this is them.
But rightly, they are also under the greatest scrutiny, and if their standards fall below the highest levels, then these must be called out.
Hence the latest harrowing and graphic BBC Panorama documentary on alleged murders by UK Special Forces in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013 highlights again why Lord Chief Justice Haddon-Cave was tasked to conduct his independent inquiry.
A cast of actors, representing BBC sources, suggest that the cold-blooded and deliberate execution of unarmed prisoners was both common and endorsed by the chain of command. Horrifying, if true.
Given the nature of the allegations, nobody is suggesting the inquiry is not necessary. If there is a legitimate case to be answered, let Haddon-Cave present it and the hard sword of justice fall.
But whilst he does his work, please let us not pass hasty judgement and forget the vital and dangerous work that they have done for our country and still do today.
Mark Anthony may have been right to say "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones", but let's not jump to this gloomy conclusion on our SF too soon.
For despite what the BBC presents as facts, any alleged evil is yet to be proven. And so much that is good has been done and is still being done today – as those many, but silent, senior officers and agency chiefs who directed their many special operations from Malaya, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan could attest.
Hung out to dry?
Not unsurprisingly, such TV programmes feed a fear within the Special Forces community that they are being well and truly hung out to dry. Add to this, the fact that very few senior officers, past or present, have stood up to publicly support the truly remarkable value of their special organisation, it really must feel to them all that they are already damned.
Although reassuring to an extent, General Sir Jim Hockenhull, the head of Strategic Command, has recently stated that he has "supreme confidence" in them.
Unlike those that choose to stand silent and plead issues of confidentiality or not wanting to upset an inquiry, I am prepared to put my head above the parapet on behalf of the serving and ex-members of UK Special Forces, to stand up and offer praise and gratitude for a truly valiant community, who are so critical to the security of this country, and especially at a time when threats are constantly mutating and growing.
I am not "Special", but instead a "specialist" who has worked with them and our intelligence agencies all over the world. I'm privileged to have witnessed amazingly brave and professional men and women dedicated to doing the right thing in the most demanding circumstances.
So different to the savage brutality of Al Qaeda and ISIS I brushed with in Syria, their beheadings and suicide methods. I also know that often it is only the work of our SF that keeps these threats from visiting themselves on us and our beloveds here at home.
Is the public losing faith?
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, the former Commanding Officer of the SAS in Iraq, is worried.
"I do fear that many in our country, upset by messy endings in Iraq and Afghanistan, rattled by the coincident and resonant rhythms of the Panorama accusations and the Haddon-Cave inquiry, may start to lose faith in our Special Forces.
"This will certainly be the case if no one breaks free of dated MOD confidentiality barriers to provide some context and insight into our recent Special Forces history to counterbalance this consistently hostile narrative."
Without such a counterbalance being made available, our country could certainly reject its unique value, cripple its capability in some way and certainly marginalise its utility. It has happened before. For it is worth remembering that despite SF's now famous World War Two achievements, not a single senior officer stood up for its potential utility in the emerging Cold War.
In a flurry of post-war reorganisation, this unique and ground-breaking capability was disbanded, with its many extraordinary veterans discharged and discarded.
Recognising the error, it was reformed again seven years later to conduct special operations in the jungles of Malaya and has remained an essential part of the British order of battle ever since.
I pray that we don't make that mistake again.
The right to recognition – and respect
These brave, skilled and special soldiers prepared to face fearful threats on all our behalf surely deserve that recognition and respect.
Earlier this month, the men of B Squadron of 22 SAS helped our police deal with an Iranian terrorist threat to the Israeli embassy in London, and that's the current cohort of the same SAS Squadron that dealt with the Iranian embassy siege in 1980.
Let's all stand with them, not pre-judge them and offer them all our sincere support for all that they are doing to keep us safe.
Retired Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a former commander of the UK Chemical Biological Radiological & Nuclear Defence Regiment.
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