With D Sqn, 22 SAS, as we manoeuvre ourselves out of a night LUP in Western Iraq, 91.
From my first war as a 17yr old in Dhofar Province, Oman, to my last war as a civilian global security adviser in Afghanistan at the age of 57…I spent 40 years taking part in, and observing wars in different parts of the world.
Why? Because these “enemies” were a threat to the UK…or because there was money to be made by those who control our government?
After WW2, it was vowed by the government that we in the UK would learn from the past and become self-sufficient…but we never to this day.
From that time to this, there have been times when the UK government has pissed off the US government by not running alongside in foreign wars…look at Vietnam as an example.
The US only has one special relationship, and it most certainly isn’t with the UK…it’s with Israel.
With the US taxpayer supplying military equipment, arms and ammo for Israel’s wars. Yet, the US taxpayer never has a vote on whether they should continue with the practice.
Despots like Putin and KJU, arguably the biggest threat to the US, have not just got away scot-free, but in recent times have been invited to meet with the US President with a warm smile and a firm handshake.
Last weekend, 2 nuclear-armed powers attacked a country surrounded by nuclear-armed powers, to instigate regime change and take away their bag of rocks.
Iran has never been weaker, militarily and economically, which is why I believe that a solution could have been executed diplomatically by the right people sent by a leadership with the right mindset.
Today, Qatar talks of oil moving to $150 per barrel…that will work well for the UK, which already has the highest fuel prices at the pump on the planet!
Here in the US, people complain when fuel rises by a cent, yet it’s still cheaper than drinking water. (Buy a bottle of water and an equivalent bottle of petrol, and you’ll see that water is more expensive.)
I scratch my head often when I hear senior members of the US government explaining to the great people of the US, their justification for doing things. Whether it’s putting ICE onto the streets of certain cities, or today’s foreign policies. And of course as we’ve seen here in the last few weeks, the corruption from senior heads of government…how does that make the taxpayers and voters feel?
Having seen the mass killing of civilians (men, women and children) in Gaza by Israeli forces using “precision weapons,” I can only imagine how many innocents are being slaughtered in Iran as I write this post.
This of course has a detrimental effect in the long term. Just like the recent “corporate wars” of Afghanistan and Iraq, the longer the civilian population suffers, the quicker they jump to the radicalised side.
Today, that radicalised side cannot be defeated militarily. Because it’s not an army…it’s an ideology.
So, in countries like the USA, UK and Western Europe (countries of very mixed populations of ethnic groupings and religions), that ideology spreads to our own streets very quickly.
Work out who the real threat is to your manner/hood, and have a safe and sound plan to protect yourself, your family and your friends.
When it comes to voting in our “amazing democratic countries,” vote with your heads once you have an understanding of what you want from government, and not just vote for a side because that’s who daddy voted for.
Bob Shepherd 