| They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Anger. Anger so deep and heartfelt that I feel a rage inside. I think of the lines written in honour of the heroic dead of WW1 by Laurence Binyon, and my mind erupts with images of human beings, just like you or me, blown to pieces, irreparably damaged, limbless and lifeless. Blood splattered clothing, screams, terror, a crying out for comfort in those last tormented minutes. The horror of unexpected mutilation and death. Flesh torn from sturdy bones, and innocence once again left bleeding in the mangled dust and debris of what had been seconds before a normal, routine day. The anger I taste is not directed at the Hun, for Binyon wrote many years ago when Kaiser Bill’s troops fought the savagery of WW1. No, my anger is aimed at Kaiser Bush and the murderous incompetence of his armed forces. Again we have witnessed the slaughter, for that is exactly what it is, of possibly 250 Afghanis as they celebrated a family wedding. An unexpected guest was the ‘stray’ bomb which dropped in their midst, devastating lives for ever. Oh yes, there will be an enquiry, maybe even a few dollars compensation, for America is a rich country and can afford to pay off those whose lives will never be the same. And the sadness for me is that supine creature who masquerades on the world’s stage as Bush’s poodle, Tony Blair, will find the words to assist HIS American allies with any spin they put on it. Those precious allies who refuse to submit to any International Criminal Court, who place tariffs on steel because their own industry is so non-competitive, who withdraw from the Kyto Agreement on environmental safeguards, and who have the arrogance and downright stupidity to tell the Palestinians who their leader should be. Arrogance because Bush should not interfere in the internal affairs of the Palestinian people, and stupidity because his senseless advice will only ensure the exact opposite of what he wants, to oust Arafat. Blair quickly moved into the limelight after the World Trade Center bombing, and has tried desperately not to move out since. The ‘war’ against terrorism is America’s war, not Britain’s or the EU’s. Yet we have been persuaded that we are undertaking the defence of Western ideals, and that we must stand shoulder to shoulder with Bush as he makes the world a safer place. Baloney. Britain and the rapidly retreating EU have nothing to gain, other than shared limelight and suicide bombings from becoming enmeshed in Bush’s policies. The US was bombed for one reason only, and it had nothing to do with bringing down all we supposedly hold dear. It was targeted because it props up a tiny state in the Middle East which itself exists by terror and American aid. Israel’s plunder of the Palestinian territory and the injustice of its land grab are motivation enough for both suicide bomber and for 9/11. Those people who died so horrifically in the WTC did so because of American policy. If the US had held a neutral position regarding the Middle East, then the atrocity would not have happened. I do not in any way condone the bombing by stating that; it was an evil act perpetrated by desperate men who believed that they were attacking a greater injustice. But they were wrong. Bush and his Israeli allies are now seducing the public with tales that the suicide bombers are doing it for gain, that they are being brainwashed by their mullahs into believing that they will go into the next life as heroes, complete with a train of virgins. Do you believe that? I mean do you REALLY believe that there is no sense of injustice, of fighting back, of helping out their brothers? I recently read a letter in a national newspaper in which the female writer said that during WW2 she had been a nurse, but, if, after the British Army’s evacuation at Dunkirk, Churchill had asked for suicide bombers to infiltrate into Europe, she would have gladly volunteered, such was the anger and resentment felt at the time. I just wonder if Hitler would have put a spin on it if she had done, and suggested that she had only done it because her priest had told her she would be an angel, forever content before God’s throne. We would laugh at such nonsense, yet Bush wants us to accept his own pathetic spin. Democracy has become so eroded that ‘spin’ has become the modus operandi of politics. Those Afghanis butchered by a ‘stray’ smart bomb (don’t mention the dumb pilot), will be forgotten by the media this time next week. Some fabrication will be issued and the great American public will accept it, basically because they are only Afghanis, it happened a long way from the US, accidents do happen in war, and no Americans were killed. This killing of allies however, is not a new phenomenon. Four Canadians were killed and eight injured near Kandahar when US planes mistakenly bombed them. Added to this was the friendly fire which felled three Special Forces soldiers and seven Afghans north of Kandahar. They were killed when they called in an air strike on an enemy position. Then there were the Five U.S. soldiers who were wounded Nov. 26 near Mazar-e Sharif by shrapnel from bombs dropped by an F/A-18C Hornet as it attacked an enemy position. Death by friendly fire does not just happen in Afghanistan. There was the tragic downing of two US Army helicopters over Iraq by two US Air Force jets in April 1994. Nine British soldiers were killed by American friendly fire in the Gulf War. This is in addition to those Americans who have been recognised as being killed by their own side. The Washington Post, August, 14, 1991 reported that “The Pentagon disclosed yesterday that 35 of the 148 American servicemen and women who perished on the battlefield in the Persian Gulf War were killed inadvertently by their comrades, an extraordinary proportion by historical standards and more than three times the number previously acknowledged.” I could produce more figures and graphs, but suffice to say that there was a 17-percent fratricide rate in the Persian Gulf War. The most comprehensive compilation of fratricide examples and cases was published in a landmark study by then-Lieutenant Colonel Charles R. Shrader in 1982. His examination of 269 different incidents acknowledges the difficulty of developing accurate rates but concludes, "It appears that amicicide [fratricide] incidents account for something less that 2 percent of all casualties in battle. Something LESS than 2%, yet the US exceed that every time it goes into action. I assume that the figure of 24% fratricide rate for Desert Storm includes the total for allied losses as well. My anger is still real, if anything, I’m more frustrated at the complete lack of concern shown by the American public regarding the glaring incompetence of their troops. Why are there no politicians demanding an enquiry into friendly fire? Surely those in Washington with the data at their fingertips should be asking questions? Just what is wrong with US armed forces? Is it training, is it equipment, or are they just really dumb people who make the services their career? It is time to ask questions, not to listen to the inevitable spin about yet another wayward bomb which unfortunately ended so many lives when it struck the wedding party. Lives were taken, and many ruined. It must not be allowed to happen again. They shall not grow old, as we that 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. . Laurence Sherwood. |
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