Questionable Conduct: The Jamaican Political Reality

The Tivoli "incursion/siege" was a military-driven operation. That is another way of stating that The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) played the central role in the planning and implementation of the exercise. It follows that any investigation into the armed confrontation between the civilians and members of the Security Forces must involve analysis of the veracity of the information informing the strategies which were considered,the options which were available, the factors informing the decisions taken, as well as the the nuts and bolts of the actual operation carried out.  The need for unbiased military expertise cannot be disputed. What is subject to debate is the formal role to be accorded to such skill set. Our position is that should be accorded the position of Commissioner reflecting the importance and centrality of such to the Commission of Enquiry aimed at unearthing the truth, irrespective of its inconvenience--political and otherwise. Others are of the view that suc...

In an earlier post we posited Some Preliminary Concerns regarding the proposed Tivoli Commission of Enquiry. With respect to the skill set of the panel of commissioners we noted the clear need for " a foreign security expert with specialized training/ experience in intelligence gathering & analysis, surveillance, and urban armed confrontation." We argued that t he exercise in Tivoli was a military operation and no doubt the security Forces are anxious to tell how they saved Jamaica, acted with considerable restraint and in so doing prevented the escalation of fatalities. "The questioning and analysis of the operations conducted by the Security Forces in Tivoli has to be the central focus of the COE. It cannot be a public relations exercise aimed at restoring the public's confidence in the Security Forces in general and the Jamaica Defence Force in particular." We post the original letter by Colonel Allan Douglas to the Observer : an edited vers...