Personal Blogs

so effectively we have no military to talk of left. However, what we do have is an awful lot of some very good personnel who have left the army, Special Forces in particular, who can be 'hired' by the government through the private firms who supply 'protection' for our civil and diplomatic communities whilst they operate in difficult places. Many would call them mercenaries.

Now we know that the retired General Sir Mike Jackson, mentioned in the Bloody Sunday inquiry, who led the British army in Iraq, is involved in one of these private security firms. We also know that Lt-Col Richard Williams, former head of the SAS in Iraq is also involved in the same reputable company.

Therefore, it would be no surprise if the British government did not want to send our brave and courageous soldiers to Libya, to protect civilians of course, but instead chose to 'hire' some 'mercenaries' to fulfill the role of training the new Libyan army. With all the redundancies just announced it would be brilliant if the army could be used as consultants, or advisers, without the government being directly involved.

I do sometimes wonder about free speech. I still struggle when people say that they get upset when somebody says that they don't agree with something, for example that we should not be holding parades for our brave and courageous military when they return from tours of duty.

I am always reminded of the War of Jenkins Ear, on the basis that the people thought that it was a good idea at the time. Or that England got involved in the Great War, which really was nothing to do with us, except that it was likely that Germany would have 'won' by Christmas without our assistance to the French.

I always worry when politicians use war as a distraction to events at home, for example again with the Great War, the near Mutiny in Ireland just before we sent the boys over to save the Empire. We are mired in the awfulness of Afghanistan, after our ignominious defeat in Iraq, with the run in the dark from Basra, and I fear what exactly we are going to do in Libya, and why we do nothing in Yemen, or Bahrain.