The West Kingston Commission of Enquiry report has now been made public and it appears to have been generally accepted as a good report and a reflection of the manner in which the commissioners conducted their duties.

I am personally in agreement with these findings and recommendations. However, it is still my opinion that the commission of enquiry, having been conducted as some form of a trial — adversarial instead of inquisitorial — was incorrect.

We ended up with a legal contest of security forces versus the Tivoli residents. It now appears that the Tivoli contestants have won, or, as said repeatedly by a Tivoli resident on a radio programme when asked to comment on the security forces lawyers’ position, “Dem just have fi understand dat dem lose!”

Let us, however, be quite clear that what took place in Tivoli in 2010 was a military-led operation that went wrong. It was incorrectly conceived and disastrously executed. Had it not led to the loss of life, this mistake would have been laughable. It certainly is a lesson to military commanders not to set out with an attitude of “I’ll show you,” because such an approach only courts disaster.

Command cannot be exercised based on something equivalent to revenge, as invariably emotion drives decisions and not brains. In the process that called for calmness, good judgement, and extraordinary restraint, lost out to storming and decimating the “enemy position”, or what is more commonly referred to as a brute force or ignorance approach.

The most junior of the Sandhurst graduates know, for instance, that internal security operations calls for restraint and an abundance of respect for human life. This requires training and the adoption of the nature of that type of operation, not something akin to a Hollywood script with colour and bravado to thrill the viewing public and to fill comic books of old!

As someone with a military background, I have concluded that the nature of the Tivoli military-led operation appeared to have been conceived by a civilian who, having been given a military operation pamphlet, like a shopper looking through a shopping catalogue, stabbed his finger and declared, “Let’s have that one!”

What to do now

It is my hope that the Jamaica Defence Force will quickly, if they haven’t already done so, study objectively with its leaders at all levels at which it went wrong.

In addition, it must optimally restore public confidence in the integrity of the force as one that respects the rights of all Jamaicans.

The Independent Commission of Investigations should also be provided with all evidence, which for some reason was not already provided.

The minister of defence, who is also prime minister, should ensure that this happens as well.

The security forces lawyers, while trying (but not succeeding) to be gracious in defeat, should swallow their pride and stop bleating that the Tivoli residents should also be held accountable for the deaths or suffering they endured. If, however, they wish to persist along that line, then I suggest that they turn over all evidence they have so that the individuals can be brought before our courts. Let us now have the Tivoli residents on charges before the courts!

In the interest of Jamaica, let this be a period of reconciliation between our security forces and all Jamaica.

Colonel Allan Douglas Sr is a retired Jamaica Defence Force colonel. Send comments to the Observer oralldouglas@aol.com.