The Judge RANTS!
Date: 17/01/07
In Harm's Way
Sometimes, what I'd always thought of as a firmly-held view can be changed by a passionate statement which challenges it.
So when Anthony Canting Liar Blair said in Plymouth last weekend (to a military audience, I might add):
"On the part of the military, they need to accept that in a volunteer armed force, conflict and therefore casualty may be part of what they are called upon to face."
I didn't think much of it. After all, yes, the UK's military is entirely a volunteer one. No-one is forced to sign up (except for the fact that, for some of them at least, there may be no other prospect of employment for them), and they should go into the whole thing with their eyes wide open.
The thing is, it now occurs to me, can they do this? After all, anyone looking at the television, press and other advertising for the military (particularly if they're at that impressionable age that most people are when they join) could be forgiven for thinking that being in the forces is quite a jolly romp, all things considered. This is how the armed life has been sold to them (and us) for years.
What people are not told (at least, not until it's all but too late) is that when you join up you lose a substantial portion of your basic rights, you can be put in harm's way not in order to defend your country and fellow citizens from attack from without, but for the ideological agendas of those temporarily in power and, should you be unfortunate enough to be maimed (in body or mind) in the course of your duties, you cannot expect those who put you in peril to show any concern beyond a bit of public hand-wringing.
That (apart from the fact that the toerag has never served himself, nor has he had anything other than empty words for the families of those killed to date) is why Bliar's remark has proven to be so offensive to many serving military personnel. Thanks to the very splendid and worthwhile Blairwatch, I came across this response on the wonderfully-named ARRSE site:
"Blair - I've no doubt you've been on this website and I hope you're reading this.
I sit here typing this in tears of anger, frustration and despair.
Having never served, HOW FCUKING DARE YOU make a comment like that. The finest, brightest, strongest, bravest young men and women in this country signed on the dotted line in selfless service of their country and you BETRAYED them by sending them into unsound conflict without adequate support.
YOU have made the decision to send young soldiers into a HELL from which some have never returned.
...
And if you think I'm being unreasonble, consider for a second my friends and comrades who will never again see the light of day. Consider the parents who leave their brave young son's bedroom just as he left it in the false hope that he might one day come home to them. Consider the children who, whilst you were no doubt enjoying a family christmas, wept and sobbed because daddy wasn't there to open his presents - Because you murdered him in your political pandering.
May your dreams be haunted for the rest of your days by the youth and laughter which you've so smugly poured away.
Blair. You fcuking cnut."
And, as they say, you can't say fairer than that. Others in the army have chimed in to agree (see the relevant forum posts here - Warning! Contains more military language!).
Will the bastard listen, even to this? Hardly. Why? Because he doesn't have to. Why not? Because our cowardly legislators and our craven, celeb-obsessed media won't make him. And he'll be safely in the US inside six months, sharing George's Castle Of Delusions. And our military personnel will still be dying in Afghanistan, in Iraq and (who knows?) in Iran, all for those self-same delusions.
I don't believe in Hell. If I did, I still don't think there would be a circle deep enough to accomodate Blair.
