Should the protection of serving soldiers be put before freedom of speech? In an opinion piece published on BBC News Online Dr David Rodin, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict reflects on Islam4UK's proposal (now withdrawn) to march through Wootton Bassett as a demonstration against the actions of soldiers in Iraq.

Dr Rodin writes: "Many people believe that the invasion of Iraq was unjust and a growing number question the legitimacy of the war in Afghanistan, yet many of those same people passionately hold that those who served in those wars should be honoured as heroes. The controversy over Islam4UK's criticism of British soldiers in their aborted Wootton Bassett march challenges us to consider whether these two views are really coherent."

Dr Rodin is a moral philosopher and a leading authority on the ethics of war and conflict. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, which aims to regulate and prevent armed conflict by developing a more sophisticated framework of rules and stronger forms of international authority relating to armed conflict.

You can read the full article here.

Related Links and Resources

• Dr David Rodin
• BBC: Should we be free to criticise serving soldiers?
• Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict