“Sometime in the next 10 days 3,000 US servicemen and women will have been killed by a war that was declared “accomplished” in May 2003.”
The BBC mentioned this little statistic at the end of an article on Saddam Hussein and the Bush family.
How sad to think we will all concentrate on this one death. Journalists will be “doing the maths” to ascertain just which poor unfortunate has had his or her last Christmas on this earth.
A sobering thought.
1. Had baby Daughter (aahhhh!), well wife did I just watched!
2. Got new job at major media company.
3. Had a really good holiday Break over Christmas with the family.
4. Paid off the mortgage.
5. Turned 40 (never look back)
6. Had a great Territorial Army annual camp.
7. Started a blog (that nobody seems to read, hhmm funny that!)
Thanks James
A harsh punishment, but probably justified.
Now since we (the west) are in the business of bringing evil dictators to justice how about Robert Mugabe & Kim Jong Il, because evil as Saddam was, if I was to rate the top ten people who I think need to be brought to justice, he would just make the top 10!
Going into other people countries. It’s either justified or it’s not!
This man has no real axe to grind. General Shirreff has also used the phrase “covenant between soldiers & people” again. What is it? Put simply, it’s the “We lay our lives on the line, you give us anything & everything we need” Deal, perhaps the caveat should be added “because if you don’t you (the people) will have to do the fighting & dying yourselves”.
In an unpopular war a predominantly selfish population will simply say “well we don’t need you to do this as this war is not needed” To a certain extent this is understandable, but the issue is, that once an Army has been “downsized” past a certain point (and an military fighting an unpopular war is unlikely to get the funding it needs), it can’t be re-built in time for when you may REALLY want it!
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent announcment that the war was probably not justified and is going badly will add to peoples views that they should’nt go on supporting the effort.
This is astounding! The elite forces of our nation having their capabilities drastically reduced as part of cost-cutting exercises!
The proof is there for all to see. Operational costs ARE effecting the ongoing running of the Military (wars are supposed to be funded out of a separate budget).
Any commander knows the deterrent effect of having airborne forces. They should rarely if ever be used, but they make the enemy commanders life a nightmare, as he must spread his troops far & wide “just in case” you drop a brigade or even battalion into his rear echelon.
Nice one Mr G Brown. All the good recruiting work done by 3 Para recently (showing themselves to be well ‘ard) has been undone in a single stroke!
To quote an ironic post on Arrse recently.
Look, let’s be sensible. There’s no other way of funding our social outreach to Africa, Bangladesh and the newer members of the EU. What’s more important? Our identity, culture and national security, or the on-message message which Nu Lab and its’ viral progenitors wish to see like engraved on their monuments?
Sorry, I couldn’t keep this a secret any longer! It’s amazing what we forget about, because at the time we had more on our minds! I was based in Basra in 2004 and have just remembered the following which I know can be corroborated.
Mr Hoon visited us in Basra in 2004. He didn’t have the decency to stay awake whilst he was briefed by the Chief of Staff and Commander of the 1st Mechanised Brigade. He actually dozed off in the front row! What a terrible insult to men & women for whom sleep is a rare commodity. The palace at Basra was under regular attack from mortars & rockets. 18 hour days were totally normal. I’m sure we’d have all liked a quick nap, but keeping our troops alive & on the mission was slightly more important to us.
Sadly the system of government puts weak people in charge of the strong simply because they are devious enough or rich enough to get people to vote for them. Shame!
Makes you wonder if he was asleep when given the choices regarding procurement prior to Telic 1?
Just to prove I was there, here is a pretty rubbish picture taken by me from a US Navy helicopter prior to landing at Basra Palace
Truly Equal has mentioned a good point that has come out of the invasion of Iraq.
In Saddam’s time, the equality of women was actually used by the Ba’ath party to put the religious extremes in their place.
For a while, the uniform of female traffic wardens was actually a sort of mini-skirt, and although this was done for political reasons, the fact that it was accepted goes a long way to showing how “tolerant” Iraq society was of western influences. Sadly, by our invasion, we have put back women’s rights, possibly forever. The number of attacks on teachers in girls’ schools is a worrying fact. The religious powers that are now exerting their influence in the power vacuum left by Saddam will drive the position of women back to the dark ages (where most of the rest of the Arab world is!).
Alternet gave the heads-up on this
The death of Sergeant Steven Roberts is a tragedy on many levels. The lack of an apology from the government is truly staggering and must add to the pain his family is feeling.
Although I hate the current “blame culture” with a vengeance, I feel that in this case there really is someone to blame.
At some point, two options would have been put to Geoff Hoon. These were;-
The consideration in taking option 2 should be that some capabilities will be lost due to lack of equipment available “on the day”, and even that some lives may be lost. This is a valid option if the decision will save MORE lives through the element of surprise gained. THIS WAS CLEARLY NOT THE REASON THAT OPTION 2 WAS TAKEN! Geoff Hoon (and presumably the inner circle in government) wanted to keep the information, not from the enemy, but from their own backbenchers!
Staggering! The result was the death of a soldier, whose life, in their eyes was worth less than the government’s image.
A lot more have died since that date, some of them personal friends of mine. I miss them all, and am sad for their loss. I truly think that the government could not care less. At least that’s how it looks
They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.
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jour·nal n. A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis; a diary.
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