The Chief of the General Staff of the British armed forces, who is one of the main planners of the Iraq war, yesterday told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry that paratroopers involved in the killings of 13 unarmed civilians in Derry's Bogside 31 years ago did not exceed their orders.
Gen Sir Mike Jackson (59), who was a captain in the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday, also said that his commanding officer, Lieut Col Derek Wilford, whom he accompanied into the Bogside, "would simply have got on with it".
Gen Jackson, who was also the battalion's adjutant, said the army's planned operation on the day was not designed to "teach the IRA a lesson" and he described that suggestion as "absurd".
"Clearly the arrest operation was an opportunity to put some of those people in jail. However there was absolutely nothing more sinister in 1 Para's involvement," he told the inquiry's three judges.
He said before Lieut Col Wilford was given the order to deploy his troops into the Bogside, he became impatient.
"He wanted to get a move on and commence the arrest operation but he was being held back and told to wait. There were communications over the radio about this which I would describe as a bit of 'up and downing' but I cannot recall exactly what was said. Generally the gist was that we wanted to get a move on but were being told to wait", he said.
The witness said he believed both he and other paratroopers were fired at as they moved into the Bogside during the illegal Bloody Sunday civil rights march.
"I saw support company setting off towards the Rossville Flats but it became almost immediately apparent that they had become involved in a firefight.
"This was obvious because of the way the soldiers were moving and behaving," he said.
"I have a strong memory that the men of support company were behaving as if they were being shot at. I have absolutely no reason to suppose that any of 1 Para would have been using their weapons had there not been incoming rounds", he added.
Gen Jackson also said he had an "absolutely firm impression" that several shots were fired at him and he thought "some bugger is firing at me".
"All around me the soldiers that I saw had the postures of men who were under fire, who had been under fire or thought they were going to be killed."
The witness said it would be absurd to suggest that there was a secret oral instruction for the army on the day which would take precedence over written orders.
"For such a complex operation, written orders would have been needed. The mission was to conduct an arrest operation pure and simple. If the IRA sought to open fire then we would obviously react to them, but we did not seek this reaction," he added.
He said he had "heard it said" that the events of Bloody Sunday occurred as a result of a huge conspiracy.
"Two cabinets, two prime ministers and two generals, Ford and Tuzo, would have to know of any such 'concealed plan' as would Brigadier MacLellan, Col Wilford and indeed the entire battalion. Such an operation could not have been planned orally and there would have been a piece of paper somewhere. It is ridiculous to suggest that there was a plan of that nature but that nothing ever came out."
The inquiry continues.