I feel no shame in admitting that I cried while watching both.
I felt quite ashamed at all the pain and suffering that could have been prevented. Don't misunderstand me here. I am not trying to make a political point here about being at war in the middle east or the legality of the whole thing, that is an argument for another day, however I have serious concerns about the conditions in which we are expecting men to wage war.
So I have made two decisions tonight. One inconvenient and one with serious ramifications. First I am seriously appalled at the conditions in which these men are expected to fight. We have sent them to a land thousand of miles away to fight and die for us, and we do not give them the finance and the equipment needed to do the task assigned to them.
While politicians may argue that defence spending has increased the past 10 years, we were not fighting two separate wars on the other side of the world 10 years ago and the budget has not increased nearly enough. There was a story a few weeks ago that the government was releasing a few tens of million of pounds to buy new vehicles. That seems like brilliant news, until you realise that the vehicles should have been replaced 5 years ago when it became apparent that we would not be seriously involved in northern Ireland in the foreseeable future and we were going to be fighting in the desert for quite some time. There are no where near enough men, supplies, helicopters and the quality of ammo and equipment is way below what it should be.
So I plan tomorrow to write to every person I believe could be in a position to effect some sort of positive outcome on this situation however unlikely it may be. I do not normally sign or agree with petitions or masses of letters because they are done in such large numbers for such insignificant things, however this is something that I am willing to fight and argue for in the strongest possible terms.
The second thing I plan to do is joining the TA. I planned to join the Territorial Army a few years back but never got around to getting into shape and being fit enough to pass the inevitable exams. However this is something I will change quite rapidly, and I am telling you all to try and gain your help in making sire that it happens. I shall join the TA and train as much as possible in the next two years. i shall refuse for the next two years to go to fight because I believe my degree is more important and I shall be in a better position to help more people when it is completed. However after I have graduated I shall have no problem with going to Afghanistan or anywhere else to lend a hand in defending our country and our freedoms and our way of life. Yes I may die, but if I die others will live, and I wish to do as much as possible to keep people alive.
So I am effectively writing this as a letter of my intentions so that I will not back out, and to ask for all of your help in achieving this and encouraging you all to join me to try and make the world a better place and keep the men who have volunteered to keep our country safe alive to fight another day.
J
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5 comments:
I've got your back.
-- Samir.
I'm going to have to be very delicate with this one, so I pre-apologise if I don't articulate myself clearly enough.
I agree totally with the point about the conditions in which we expect our troops to fight. That we have put them out there putting their lives on the line without the equipment and support they need to be able to it is a national bloody disgrace, and the people in the government that allow the situation to continue are reprehensible.
Then there's the matter of the support and help they need, many of them for the rest of their lives, once they've returned. In some ways, the ones who simply die are the lucky ones.
However, I'm going to have to disagree with you about the best way to defend our freedoms being to send people to kill other people in the desert. This isn't the Second World War, Hannibal isn't at the gates.
This isn't a war we can win with bombs and bullets, no matter how hard we try. They don't hate us because we're free! They hate us because we've been interfering in Middle Eastern politics for decades for our own ends - for the oil, to fight the Soviets, the continuing situation with Israel and Palestine, the blood-bath that's been post-invasion Iraq. The harder we try to kill people, the more the people over there are going to resent us.
The real threat to our freedoms is right here at home, from the people who are using the terrorist threat to piss our freedoms into the wind. The government recently attempted to allow detention for 42 days, 6 weeks, without charge or trial. That's 6 weeks before they even have to tell you what you're accused of! That's a greater attack on liberty and freedom than any bomb on a Tube train.
"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety"
I'd like to be clear - I support the troops themselves. They're doing the job they've been told to do excellently under such difficult circumstances.
What I have a problem with are the politicians who have sent them there.
"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori."
I do not disagree completely, and yes I have some problems with us being there in the first place. However I cannot change that now, nor can I change anything that has happened in the past. I can only help change what is going to happen, and I believe that things would be worse if we were to withdraw from that part of the world, hence we are still there.
On related points I am completely against removing more of our freedoms to protect us from "The Terrorist Threat", including but not ending with 42/28/90 days and ID cards. I do not agree with them and will never carry one, I will quite happily go to prison before I do.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, sed dulcius pro patria vivere, et dulcissimum pro patria bibere. Ergo, bibamus pro salute patriae.
You stole that off Wikipedia. I know 'cos I looked it up myself - couldn't remember the exact translation. :-)
You can "steal" from Wikipedia?
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