Revisiting Green Bay

By Colonel Allan Douglas

HAVE the greatest respect for Mr.

Edward Seaga. I believe he has and

continues to contribute significantly to

Jamaica. Additionally, he has and continues

to tell it as he sees it – he is no hypocrite.

His two-part article on the Jamaica Defence

Force entitled, “Is the JDF a professional

body?” was of great interest to me.

Having served as an officer in the JDF

for 32 years, I was disappointed, though,

that Mr. Seaga should find it necessary to

question the professionalism of the JDF,

especially as a former Prime Minister,

Minister of Defence and Chairman of the

Defence Board.

I have written many published articles

on the JDF, and have often heralded the

fact that I am proud to have been a member

of what I still regard as Jamaica’s finest

institution. I believe that the JDF systems

are near perfect and that the officer corps

has been and continues to be made up of

competent and professional men.

MILITARY MASSACRES

The history of the JDF, like most armies

the world over, has not been without its

“black” patches. No professional, well-

disciplined army sets out to kill innocent

civilians or cause them harm. There is no

training that I am aware of or instructions

that I received during my time as a member

of the JDF that would condone the murder

of civilians. However, in even the best of

regulated armies, things have gone and will

go terribly wrong.

For instance, the U.S. Army had its

My Lai Massacre – one of the worst

atrocities committed by U.S. forces

during the Vietnam War, where several

hundred unarmed villagers were shot dead,

including woman and children. The British

Army had the Amristar Massacre, a bloody

incident in which 379 Indian demonstrators

were shot dead by British troops in the city

of Amristar, Punjab. That army also had

“Bloody Sunday,” when its troops killed

13 anti-interment marchers in Bogside,

Londonderry. All of these events were

murderous and savage acts against innocent

civilians. And while these examples of

armies’ conduct are certainly reprehensible

and should be condemned, I cite them here

not for that purpose, but rather to illustrate

that massacres regrettably do take place in

other professional armies.

GREEN BAY KILLINGS

In 1978, as a captain in the JDF, I (at

great sacrifice) spoke out against the

killing of five civilians at Green Bay

who were among a party of 14 civilian

men from the southside area of Central

Kingston and were lured to a machine gun

ambush at Green Bay’s military range. I

did not believe that the act was officially

sanctioned by our political masters and

I still don’t. It galled me, though, that an

attempt was being made to cover it up and

I had no doubt as to where my loyalty laid

– not to the JDF, but to the constitution of

Jamaica. There were those who regarded,

and probably still do, my act as traitorous,

but I have no such misgivings or guilty

conscience.

Green Bay was a murderous and

unprofessional act, and had it then been left

to go unchecked, it would have led to the

rapid deterioration of the JDF’s discipline

and, more importantly, to the well being

of Jamaica. It is a chapter in the history

of the JDF that every professional soldier

that I know feels extremely ashamed of. It

was cold-blooded and cowardly murder,

nothing less.

The JDF as a body and the Defence

Board as its governing body has never

properly condemned and apologized to

Jamaica for the killing of those young

men at Green Bay. We simply closed that

chapter and moved on, pretending that it

never happened and forgetting that such

incidents have long-term effects on the

very fabric of the institution that one thinks

is being protected or let off the hook. So as

a former member of the JDF, I apologize

for Green Bay, even if no one else will!

MICHAEL GAYLE KILLING

I happen to have done the investigation

into the Michael Gayle killing. That, too,

was a murderous act and another “black”

patch in the history of the JDF. It still

sickens me to this day that the young man’s

life was taken by those sadistic cowards

who masqueraded themselves as soldiers.

My findings clearly pointed to those who

should have been held accountable, and

it was interesting and equally sickening

to observe the political wrangling inside

and outside of the JDF over this incident.

What was neither a JDF- nor government-

directed murder became so mired in our

tribal party political wranglings that all

sorts of mischief was played out as the

truth and the real culprits were never

brought to justice.

The JDF knew what was to be done but

didn’t do it, possibly because it would have

gotten caught up in the party’s political

shenanigans. I naively believed in the

system and especially the courts. I was

wrong and as a former officer of the JDF, I

apologize for the murder of Michael Gayle.

I live with his death on my conscience

for not doing more to bring his killers to

justice.

TIVOLI ONSLAUGHTS

I know something of the killings in

Tivoli. There was nothing professional

about any of those operations. The innocent

lives lost were a result of a poorly planned

and executed operation that ended in

murder most foul. As Jamaicans, we should

have been outraged, but again party politics

colored our thinking and depending on

whether we were PNP or JLP, determined

our judgment. Once again, the culprits

walked free.

As a former officer of the JDF, I

apologize for the Tivoli killings that I

believe were sanctioned by neither the

military nor government. The JDF can

never be proud of these types of incidents

and I know of no truly professional JDF

officer that would be.

Therefore, Mr. Seaga is quite right in

questioning the professionalism of the JDF.

I believe that despite the fact that there

have been many instances in the JDF’s

relatively short history of unprofessional

conduct by some of its members; there is

no evidence to suggest that the acts were

sanctioned or are in keeping with the JDF’s

doctrine or practice. There is no evidence

to suggest that the leadership cadre of the

JDF accepts these types of killings that are

anything short of cold-blooded murder.

I agree, however, with Mr. Seaga that

the, “JDF stands condemned,” for these

atrocities, as well as it should, because the

act of one of its members is a reflection of

the body as a whole.

BLIND LOYALTY

Throughout my military service, it

amazed me that respective governments

thought it necessary to come to the defence

of members of the JCF and JDF, even

when it was blatantly obvious that their

actions were not in keeping with the law

or their training/procedures. The JDF

and, indeed, the JCF owe no blind loyalty

to any government; rather, they owe a

loyalty to the constitution and the people

of Jamaica first and foremost. Conversely,

the government owes no blind loyalty to

the JDF or JCF, but to the constitution of

Jamaica and the people as well.

The misguided or poor judgment of a

section, platoon, company or battalion does

not call for any loyalty or protection from

any government. A government or defence

board that finds it necessary to defend the

misguided or poor judgment of its security

forces opens itself to being accused of not

only misplaced loyalty, but condonation of

criminal acts.

No professional army has respect for

or owes any greater sense of loyalty

to a government or defence board

that consistently condones or defends

unprofessional acts that they know

inevitably will impact on their own

effectiveness. I know of no senior JDF

officer that wishes for a license “to kill

defenseless people” without a sanction.

The JDF I know is as described by Samuel

Huntington in his book entitled

The Soldier

and the State

, which says, “…possesses

expertness acquired through formal training

and prolonged practice…its members

have defined and measurable skills

and competence, and share a common

specialized knowledge…they adhere to a

common ethical code…indispensable to

society, serve it as a whole and duty-bound

to lend their skills wherever and whenever

the nation needs them…”

The JDF has and continues to uphold the

constitution of Jamaica. I have never and

still do not accept that the JDF has killed

innocent people and inflicted brutal and

inhumane treatment on people with the

consent and approval of those in authority

and/or the government. However, I also

must accept that the JDF as a body must be

accountable and accept responsibility for

the conduct of all of its members.

(Allan Douglas is a retired colonel

of the JDF. He may be contacted at:

alldouglas@aol.com

)

THOSE JDF MURDERS

AND PROFESSIONALISM

With this in mind, we may wish to

consider the following measures in

making the JDF more accountable:

Change the composition of the

Defence Board;

Assure that political parties cease

capitalizing on security force killings to

gain political mileage;

Accept that to criticize or to

question JDF actions does it no harm,

whereas to be quiet on issues sends a

message of condonation of unlawful

acts, which could in the long run only

serve to undermine its discipline and

effectiveness.