A former British army intelligence officer said yesterday that the "powers that be" should have known of the aggressive reputation of the Parachute Regiment before they decided to use paratroopers in the Bloody Sunday operation.
He also told the Bloody Sunday Inquiry into the killings of 13 unarmed civilians by paratroopers in Derry 31 years ago, that he believed the inquiry was "a total and utter waste of time".
The witness, who was a sergeant in the Coldstream Guard's intelligence section, told the 310th day of the inquiry that when the paratroopers were deployed into the Bogside, "all hell broke loose".
He told the inquiry's three judges that during the shootings, he heard both low- and high- velocity shots as well as automatic gunfire.
"My personal view on the occasion is that the paras did not necessarily go overboard, although the firing may not have been as controlled as it should have been," he said.
"There was an essential difference in training between the paras and other regiments.
"Most troops when fired upon would take cover and return fire, but would then probably await further instructions before extending the situation. Any extension normally resulted in further rioting and casualties.
"However, the paras are trained to react in an aggressive manner, to move into contact and to act on their own initiative.Consequently, when the contact began they acted exactly as they had been trained. The powers that be should have been aware of this when tasking the paras for that role.
"I think that one or two people may have been shot because a para did not recognise his target before he shot.
"Others may have got in the way of genuine targets. People were running around everywhere and there was a lot of dust and smoke," he said.
"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. I think that this latest inquiry is a total and utter waste of time. It could make things in Northern Ireland a lot worse if it does not go the way that some people want," he added.
The inquiry was adjourned until Monday week.