The head of the British Army, General Richard Dannat, has been bemoaning the fact that the British are antipathetic and indifferent to the troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The General is calling for homecoming parades and for soldiers to be given free admission to sporting events adding that the public should understand what young British soldiers were doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen Dannatt said: "We must move from being a society that uses the military as a political and media football, and more towards seeing the military for what it is - the instrument of foreign policy conducted by a democratically elected government acting in the name of the people."
And that, Mr Dannat, is where you are either completely naive or worryingly ignorant because our 'democratically elected government' went against the opinion of the majority of the country and a good slice of it's own cabinet to send troops to Iraq.
If you want an answer to why we do not greet our soldiers in the streets with parades and ticker tape showers, it is because we did not want to send them to war in the first place so you are directing your exasperation at the wrong people, we will not be celebrating the instrument that has successfully killed over a million people and destroyed a foreign country based on lies and spin.
If you have a problem with your men being used as a political tool direct your
anger at the Government that sent you there, not the people who tried to stop the madness.
6 comments:
Top post, Lucy! Armies are supposed to be for self-defense not as instruments of foreign policy!
I guess Dannatt is probably only saying what he feels he has to say. One of his main tasks is to be an advocate for the army, after all.
However, your response to his question about why we don't venerate our returning soldiers is perfectly correct, in my view.
After all, you can't expect us to celebrate failing in an endeavour that most of us were wise enough to know was stupid/evil in the first place!
And, in his heart of hearts, I suspect Dannatt knows this. As his first remarks upon taking over as the head of the army show, he's not exactly uninformed about the situation:
http://ezycheezy.blogspot.com/2006/10/damning-verdict-from-boss.html
The General is calling for homecoming parades and for soldiers to be given free admission to sporting events adding that the public should understand what young British soldiers were doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Homecoming parades. There's a good sheeple.
My feeling is after he said that the armies in Iraq were making matters worse, he got a flea in his ear from the Government and this is a rally to 'get behind the troops' on behalf of the Government.
Hot off the press is that - although they won't be getting any glamorous homecoming parades - they will be getting some money off their Council Tax...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7011568.stm
Now that's made it all worthwhile, hasn't it Private?
I was going to post about this Cheezy but i wasn't sure i wanted to moan about the Army twice in two posts so i will write about Ahmadinejad in New York instead.
The jist of the post would of been why should the Army get cheaper rent etc and not Nurses or police etc etc and so on.
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