AWOL UK

MP John McDonnell says that desertions from the UK armed forces have tripled in the last 3 years, which would correspond to the Iraq war period. The military deny this (well the would wouldn't they?) and say Iraq is not a factor. S-right. Sure, you don't think the prospect of being sent into a warzone where they are throwing severed heads from passing cars would put them off?

Fairford Ruled out of 'Operation Bomb Iran into Democracy'

The huge U$ airbase at Fairford, Gloucester has apparently been ruled out of the planning for an attack on Iran because of "...the UK’s opposition to military action against Tehran" – the article is not clear if this opposition is the government (though I doubt it as that seems to be why Jack Straw was given the boot, because he opposed war with Iran) or could it be that they fear the popular protest? Certainly during the Iraq war the base saw massive protests and it was clear the state was getting worried!

PS. It was pointed out to me that while the media might not look that hard at what is happening at Iraq, they looked even less at the recent revelation that 182,000,000 Africans are going to die due to global warming. This is more than any act of terror that I can conceive and should be front page news everywhere. But it's not. This should shame us all in the West.

Don't Mention The War

There is a memorial to British soldiers killed in Iraq. One of the dead is a south west lad; 2nd Lieutenant Henry Parkyns Bridge Baines. About a month after he was killed the British Army issued a 'Proclamation' part of which read, "our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators..." This was an illusion. Henry died for a lie. Despite the high minded proclamation, there was an already existing plan to carve the land up. Just in case you were wondering, these events did not take place in 2004, 5 or 6. This was 1917 and by 1920 Iraqi resistance to the occupation had forced the British out.

We don't mention that war much these days. It is an uncomfortable reminder of the folly of empire. But it seems that much of the media and our political leaders also does not want to mention the current war much. It is an uncomfortable reminder of the folly of empire. I looked at some military news sources to see what has been going down in Iraq and the RAF helpfully filled me in;

RAF Policeman Runs 'London' Marathon In Iraq...Sgt Tate..the 36-year-old from Bristol is determined not to let his team mates or their chosen good cause down - and will run the 26 mile challenge at the Basra Air Station military base on the same day they set off in England. Sgt Tate's course is 21 circuits of the two kilometre road inside the Basra base that is usually a bus route that takes service personnel and civilian staff to their places of work. The route has a vague 'metropolitan feel,' as all the stops are named after London train stations...Other than that the two events couldn't be more different – while in England his colleagues will run in a comfortable climate, in Iraq Sgt Tate will compete in desert heat.

OK so that was a few weeks back, but you get the point. Its all going swimmingly(ish). The Bliar regime has tried to dampen worries after the shooting down of the British chopper and subsequent riots in Basra, "British officials played down suggestions that the clashes indicated any significant escalation of the security situation in Basra.."

Well that's not what others are saying.

"One person is being assassinated in Basra every hour as order in Iraq's second city disintegrates, according to an Iraqi Defence Ministry official." says nzherald.co.nz

"..the security situation in Basra has collapsed in the wake of the killing by persons dressed as Iraqi policemen of Shaikh Hasan Jarih al-Karamishi, the head of the al-Karamisha tribe in Basra. Firefights subsquently broke out in several districts of the city at a time of political vacuum in the central government." says Al-Zaman/ AFP report

"Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Basra today in the wake of a series of killings that has led to calls for the governor's ouster and deployment of Iraqi army forces within the city." says LA Times

Where are the British army in all this? Possibility in their barracks considering the folly of empire.

Reverberation

There is a reality to war that those who order it seldom have to see. This image, from an archive of unreleased stuff on Iraq is particularly shocking for its depiction of casual brutality. It seems to me that it shows a dead adult with what looks like a dead child on top while a US solider stands nearby.




AFTER the torchlight red on sweaty faces
After the frosty silence in the gardens
After the agony in stony places
The shouting and the crying
Prison and place and reverberation
Of thunder of spring over distant mountains
He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying

from The Wasteland, TS Eliot.

Cost of War (on Terror)

Some interesting stats on ways you might die in the U$A:

ODDS of dying from:

Cardiovascular disease: 1 in 2
Smoking (by/before age 35): 1 in 600
Car trip, coast-to-coast: 1 in 14,000
Bicycle accident: 1 in 88,000
In the military due to Bush's war on terrorism: 1 in 340 841 (my figure)
Tornado: 1 in 450,000
Train, coast-to-coast: 1 in 1,000,000
Lightning: 1 in 1.9 million
Bee sting: 1 in 5.5 million
U.S. commercial jet airline: 1 in 7 million
Terrorism: 1 in 8 609 815 (my figure)

It just needs these cross-checking with how much each area has spent on by the state...

From: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340389.html

Iraq and Roll

An advisor the the US military, Ahmed Hashim, a professor at the Naval War College came out with some interesting stuff "We have a civil war right now, a low-level civil war...Our understanding of Iraq has advanced at a very glacial pace, and the only policy we really have in our hand right now...is to leave...To stay in Iraq and to affect the situation in Iraq will require a kind of understanding at a level far deeper than we have..." This sounds a little to me like the guy is saying; 'you can't think like to need to think to win, all you can do is leave' This echos the writing of war-blogger, the War Nerd; "Most of all, people won't face the fact that guerrilla war is dirty by design. That's the whole idea: making the occupier so sick of you, so disgusted with what you do to him, and what he has to do to you, that he'll just go home. That's what happened to the French in Algeria, the Israelis in South Lebanon, and us in Nam. The idea of guerrilla war is as simple and horrible as eye-gouging: the locals care more about the place than the occupier, so they'll outlast him, out-atrocity him."

But remember - Bu$h, Bliar and the who rotten system are willing to fight to the last drop of other peoples blood to achieve a free market that they control in Iraq. That don't include leaving any time soon. Indeed not - currently they are looking for more war over the border in Iran. Bliar bounced Jack Straw out because he was not willing to go, 'GRRRRR' to Iran. Oh, and what fun war with Iran will be; "If you liked turning Sunni Muslims against us, you'll love turning Sunni and Shiite Muslims against us...If you thought things were bad now, wait till Iran retaliates against our air strikes by bombing Israel. When Israel strikes back, the whole Middle East will have to get sucked into the war. And then the fun really starts."

Boom.