The Forgotten Front

It was good to see reports on BBC news about the public parade thorough Norwich city centre by local infantry regiment “The Royal Anglian Regiment (Vikings)”. A new train in Liverpool Street was even named after them.

The 1st Battalion has just returned from a tour of Afghanistan during which 9 of their comrades were killed (and a further 2 Estonians and 1 Dane in their Battle group) amidst what has been described as some of the most ferocious combat that British troops have been involved in since the Korean War.


I suspect that most people know friends, neighbours or relatives who have served in recent years in Afghanistan and/or Iraq. Especially now that the Territorial Army and the other Armed Forces reservists are routinely sent to support their regular counterparts.

I think that like “Remembrance Sunday” even if you don’t agree with the war in Afghanistan or Iraq you should support and honour the young men (and women) who have risked their lives and remember those who have not returned. This link is to a moving video on YouTube.

There has been justifiable criticism that the troops abroad have not felt they have received the support that they deserve for their sacrifice from the media and the wider British public. I think that this is true and that we must organise and support more of these parades and services. However, this is an age old complaint about the “ungrateful” British as this famous poem reminds us:

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy how's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

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Re: The Forgotten Front (#1)

The problem is in Iraq most of the people thought the war was wrong, although the young men and women of the armed forces are obeying orders those orders came from Blair, and he lied to us.


Afghanistan yes I can understand why we are there, but the Iraqi lies have in some ways tainted this war.


But yes I will back them to the hilt for fighting but not for the way the war was carried out, I also think it's an insult to us all that Royals are seen as being above going to war.


Re: The Forgotten Front (#2)

Hi treborc

 

Well, it’s a pity that you don’t appear to have the ability to argue your case without calling people liar, but such is life I suppose.  Regardless of what you happen to think about Iraq there are British service men and women who are doing what their democratically elected government have told them to do.

 

I can usually join a debate about the role and future of the Monarchy in modern day Britain.  However, it is a shame that you repeat the vile and hateful arguments of the “Daily Hate” about the position of junior royals who happen to be in the armed forces at this moment. 

Re: The Forgotten Front (#3)

I'll stand by my words i live in the real world you dream on in yours.

Re: The Forgotten Front (#4)

Hi Treborc
Nothing wrong with being a dreamer.  But what sort of nightmare world do you inhabit?

Re: The Forgotten Front (#5)

Utopian thinking can blight foreign policy. Iraq is sitting on a pile of black gold. Our utopian thinking marred the rational thinking of understanding the geo-political, religious and social situations in Iraq. By not having an established post-war plan, it energised the Shia and Sunni insurgents, it energised the Kurds threatning Turkey, which is blighting one of the few success stories of Iraq, and by leaving a gaping hole in our security plan, we allowed foreign insurgents to set base camp in Iraq, which further energises the first three groups of insurgents.

This exarcerbates the power the radicals have in Iran, which helps the Islamist cause, in the jigsaw puzzle piece, that noone can fit into their puzzle, Pakistan. This pisses of India, which pisses of China, who are the two up-and coming countries. The Kurdish problem is bringing in another success story of the muslim world, Turkey, into becoming more Islamist and radical. The problems in Pakistan effect Afghanistan, leading the Taliban to becoming a Capone-like Mafia organisation, as they now control substantial parts of the heroin trade, and blackmail the Afghans into killing soldiers with bounties. The US can't try and lecture the countries that all effect the Iraq process.

Armenian Genocide vote. Bush protests againsts it.
Civil rights denied in Middle-East countries. We need their oil, or their 'support' in the 'WOT'.
Pakistan. We're trying to fit it as a jigsaw piece. We don't know what to do about Bhutto and Sharif.
India and China. We can't lecture them about their role in despot countries (Burma etc.)

And the list goes on.