tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post3491748638656027699..comments2024-03-27T21:30:35.824+00:00Comments on UK Commentators: Afghanistan - Two Churchill QuotesLabanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-92168072649732095932009-11-05T10:11:17.430+00:002009-11-05T10:11:17.430+00:00@Laban:
The Boer war wasn't just, or even mos...@Laban:<br /><br />The Boer war wasn't just, or even mostly about gold.<br /><br />There was a whole host of reasons that all came together, including pressure from the gold producers (and their Jameson raid) the Boer governments restriction of the franchise, the British attempts to enforce what they saw as their suzerainty over the area, and most of all the Boers' attempt to retake the Cape colony - with the gold taxes paid to them paying for some of Europe's most advanced weaponry, which mostly outclassed what the British had.moriartynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-17380142268345467662009-11-04T18:38:44.602+00:002009-11-04T18:38:44.602+00:00He added: "I have found the return to civilia...He added: "I have found the return to civilian life humbling. My George Cross counted for little when I tried to find a job in the middle of a recession." <br /><br />"The usual grumbling by soldiers at the politicians who determine their fate has for me hardened into real anger. When I left the Army, I qualified for a resettlement allowance of just £500. <br />"In contrast, MPs who leave the Commons receive between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of their annual salary to help them 'adjust' to live outside Parliament. Where is the fairness in that? <br />"What makes me even more furious is the lack of respect shown by the Government to those who have paid the highest price and made the ultimate sacrifice: the war dead. Why is there no Minister in attendance when our fallen heroes from Afghanistan are brought home to repatriation ceremonies at Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire? <br />"I couldn't believe it when I read that Gordon Brown had phoned Simon Cowell to ask how Britain's Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle was when she had a breakdown. He doesn't phone any of the bereaved families. I thought that was absolutely disgusting, a real slap in the face for the parents of the hundreds of soldiers killed." <br /><br />From the Sun<br /><br />Brown is a truly despicable individualSgt Troynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-1422781246560939682009-11-04T18:23:31.935+00:002009-11-04T18:23:31.935+00:00War in Malaya - won
War in Vietnam lost because th...War in Malaya - won<br />War in Vietnam lost because the Yanks failed to treat Haiphong and Hanoi the way we dealt with Leipzig and Tokyo.<br />Rules of engagement- Null PointsGordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-40175318608852715642009-11-04T17:37:11.233+00:002009-11-04T17:37:11.233+00:00Anon1 - the Boer war was perhaps the most pure ...Anon1 - the Boer war was perhaps the most pure 'Imperialist' war of all - fought for the diamonds and gold of the Orange Free State. Not terribly moral but hardly pointless.<br /><br />Anon2 - we didn't lose militarily in NI at all. The IRA were losing. It's just that other considerations supervened (collapse of Brit cultural self-confidence, patriotism etc) - hence Good Friday.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-42896606921915786532009-11-04T17:14:24.565+00:002009-11-04T17:14:24.565+00:00Vietnam - lost
Russia in Afghanistan - lost
Brit...Vietnam - lost<br /><br />Russia in Afghanistan - lost<br /><br />Britain in Northern Ireland -lost<br /><br />Not one guerilla war since WWII has ever been won and yet we insist on fighting them. <br /><br />We should pull out of Afghanistan, let the Taleban take over - then fight them on the ground in conventional warfare.<br /><br />Anyway, who gives a stuff about Churchill. Its a Euro-army now and the descendents of the Hitler youth are calling the shots.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-11843475625224685302009-11-04T15:46:26.594+00:002009-11-04T15:46:26.594+00:00I'm confused by Churchill's quote about th...I'm confused by Churchill's quote about the Boer War. Didn't Britain own about a quarter of the world at that time? There are some who say the Boer War was the first of Britain's "pointless" wars.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-56952901315750422912009-11-04T15:14:00.202+00:002009-11-04T15:14:00.202+00:00"Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth dismissed th..."Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth dismissed the claim that Britain could maintain security by relying on internal measures alone.<br /> <br />"We can't secure ourselves at the borders of Great Britain. If Afghanistan is not secure, then Pakistan will not be secure and Britain will not be secure. That is the whole purpose of us being there," he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One." Telegraph<br /><br />So then elements of the large and rapidly growing Pakistani population are a threat then, Ainsworth is not the most subtle of politicos when it comes to letting moggy out of the bag<br /><br />And, extraordinarily, Woolas has claimed that British forces are in Afghanistan are fighting, and dying, "partly to contriol immigration". One would question the necessity of fighting so far forward though. Why can't we secure our borders? Where can they be secured? From a trench in Helmand? What an utterly absurd notion<br /><br />Howells, who is better than the average Labour politician, is of course absolutely correct in suggesting a policy which another party, whose name we must not speak, has previously advocated<br />The regime position is collapsing, as indeed will the regime itself in the not too distant futureSgt Troynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-328094733117914672009-11-04T14:43:42.134+00:002009-11-04T14:43:42.134+00:00I don't think you can get the vermouth west of...I don't think you can get the vermouth west of the Durand Line ...Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-47346707324993805602009-11-04T14:40:26.228+00:002009-11-04T14:40:26.228+00:00I assume, without clicking the link, that refers t...I assume, without clicking the link, that refers to the Martini-henry rifle, and not the drink? ;)JuliaMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07844126589712842477noreply@blogger.com