BISHOP Herro Blair, arguing that Jamaica was at war with gunmen and violent drug traffickers, on Saturday made a case for the independent deployment of soldiers by the army to help check spiralling crime in the island.

“We are at war,” Blair told 116 Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) recruits at their passing out parade at the JDF training camp in Moneague, St Ann. “And if we are at war in the nation, then the army must be called upon, the military must be called upon to rescue us; and I look forward to the day when this will happen, that you will be given much more duties, so that you can help this nation in bringing back sanity and safety amongst us.”

He said that unfortunately, the decision to deploy the security forces, especially soldiers, lay in the hands of the political directorate, but added: “I pray for the day when the chief-of-staff can take a determined decision that enough is enough and my men will go and be the solution.”

Senior government officials were not immediately available for comment on Blair’s suggestion which, on the face of it, would take the authority for deploying soldiers for substantial policing duties out of the hands of the Defence Board, headed by the prime minister and vest it in the head of the defence force.

Blair’s comments Saturday afternoon came as the island’s murder toll climbed to at least 717, with the shooting deaths of four Jamaicans — one of them a cop — in separate incidents Saturday.

His remarks also underlined a warning made in February this year by the JDF chief-of-staff, Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, that he would be disinclined to continue sending soldiers on joint operations if they did not have the legal cover to effect arrests and detention in their own right while on such duties.

However, Lewin had told a parliamentary committee that he would be willing to concede to “confining the soldiers’ powers to those offences under the Firearms Act”.

Soldiers are routinely sent on patrols with the police, but legally operate

under the umbrella of the constabulary who are in-charge during such operations.

Lewin insisted to members of a House Select Committee reviewing the issue, that these arrangements may not only expose innocent civilians to harm from criminals, but opened his soldiers to physical harm and legal action, which he was unprepared to accept.

“Without the shield of the law over the head of that soldier, I am not prepared to place him in a position where he is going to be so exposed,” Lewin said.

But the Police Federation, which represents rank and file cops, voiced opposition to Lewin’s proposal, arguing that it would be a policy conflict for the national security ministry and would contradict the constabulary’s current strategic direction.

Blair, who is also the political ombudsman, did not address these concerns or the wider implication of placing such authority in the hands of the military, but he obviously framed his comments against the murder rate which, at just over 40 per 100,000, government officials have admitted, is unacceptably high.

Said Blair: “We are at war with the narco-terrorists; we are at war with the political terrorists; we are at war with gunmen and gangsters and many gangs that terrorise our cities.”

Blair’s comments are likely to throw renewed focus on National Security Minister Peter Phillips’ announcement two weeks ago that the JDF is undergoing a review which should, by next year, give the nation a blueprint for a modern, effective, affordable and flexible army.

The review, Phillips stated, was being conducted with the assistance and collaboration of British, Canadian and American authorities.

Following the review, Minister Phillips said, the next step would be the development of a National Defence Strategy that will focus specifically on the military, with the final component being a Force Transformation Plan.

Blair, in the meantime, encouraged the recruits not to compromise their principles and urged them to stay committed to their tasks.

He said that corruption had permeated all aspects of our national life and told the young soldiers not to become a part of the problem.

“You must be a part of the solution as you leave here and seek to destroy this… monstrosity.”