Comments on: Troops Oot http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/ the break up of the British State and the death of capitalism Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:11:08 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Michael Chappell http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-30 Michael Chappell Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:01:00 +0000 http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-30 Leading on from recent worldwide journalistic and political discussions about the Iraq War, I suppose many looked forward in the vain hope that the 21st Century would represent a time of peace for our war weary world. Estimates place the number of people killed in wars during the 20th Century to be in excess of 170 million. That quite simply is 170 million human beings murdered. The twentieth century is a legacy of the ability of humanity to engage willingly in acts of warfare and atrocity. At this start of the 21st Century, thus far affairs do not bode well. On the coat tails of the Bush administration in the United States of America, the armed forces of Britain and many other countries have been dragged into a never ending conflict in Iraq in search of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and perhaps even more fatally, into Afghanistan, a nation which is steeped in British blood and more latterly, Russian blood. I suspect that Britain, for as long as it remains the United Kingdom and here, I trust that the Scottish people have the sense to vote for independence, may soon no longer be in a position to finance the current military idiocy extant across the globe. Certainly, many in the Celtic fringes of Britain are already quite sensibly calling for withdrawal of British armed forces and for the cash being needlessly squandered to be spent on more beneficial causes, health, and education and so on. I note that President Bush has recently sacked a senior advisor who warned him that war in Iran would be folly. I don’t doubt that if war were commenced against that Nation, British forces would soon be volunteered. Where will this lunacy end? My late Grandfather ran away to sea to avoid a short life working in the Cornish tin mines. He served in the Royal Navy from 1919 until 1946. On his return home, he placed his 14 medals in a drawer and never wore them again. He refused to join the British Legion, to attend Remembrance Day or even to talk about his years at sea. His only comment in his mother tongue, the Cornish language, was, “I saw a lot of good people die on both sides. What the hell was that all about?” On ending my service, I too returned my medals and asked the same question. I note that the National Union of Schoolmasters has voted to forbid armed forces recruiting in schools. Quite right too. There is no glamour in killing in the name of a political regime and those who claim some kind of divine right or permission should carefully read their religious texts and ignore what those who interpret them say – quite simply it is wrong to kill, full stop. No ifs, no buts. I urge all those who kill in the name of political policy or some deluded vision of patriotic duty to God, Queen and Country, to bravely place their weapons firmly down and walk away. Let’s be done with it, once and for all before it’s too late, before there is no world left for our children and grandchildren. Michael John Chappell - Cornish Nationalist & Assistant General Secretary – The Celtic League International Leading on from recent worldwide journalistic and political discussions about the Iraq War, I suppose many looked forward in the vain hope that the 21st Century would represent a time of peace for our war weary world.
Estimates place the number of people killed in wars during the 20th Century to be in excess of 170 million. That quite simply is 170 million human beings murdered. The twentieth century is a legacy of the ability of humanity to engage willingly in acts of warfare and atrocity. At this start of the 21st Century, thus far affairs do not bode well.
On the coat tails of the Bush administration in the United States of America, the armed forces of Britain and many other countries have been dragged into a never ending conflict in Iraq in search of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and perhaps even more fatally, into Afghanistan, a nation which is steeped in British blood and more latterly, Russian blood.
I suspect that Britain, for as long as it remains the United Kingdom and here, I trust that the Scottish people have the sense to vote for independence, may soon no longer be in a position to finance the current military idiocy extant across the globe. Certainly, many in the Celtic fringes of Britain are already quite sensibly calling for withdrawal of British armed forces and for the cash being needlessly squandered to be spent on more beneficial causes, health, and education and so on.
I note that President Bush has recently sacked a senior advisor who warned him that war in Iran would be folly. I don’t doubt that if war were commenced against that Nation, British forces would soon be volunteered. Where will this lunacy end?
My late Grandfather ran away to sea to avoid a short life working in the Cornish tin mines. He served in the Royal Navy from 1919 until 1946. On his return home, he placed his 14 medals in a drawer and never wore them again. He refused to join the British Legion, to attend Remembrance Day or even to talk about his years at sea. His only comment in his mother tongue, the Cornish language, was, “I saw a lot of good people die on both sides. What the hell was that all about?” On ending my service, I too returned my medals and asked the same question.
I note that the National Union of Schoolmasters has voted to forbid armed forces recruiting in schools. Quite right too. There is no glamour in killing in the name of a political regime and those who claim some kind of divine right or permission should carefully read their religious texts and ignore what those who interpret them say – quite simply it is wrong to kill, full stop. No ifs, no buts. I urge all those who kill in the name of political policy or some deluded vision of patriotic duty to God, Queen and Country, to bravely place their weapons firmly down and walk away.
Let’s be done with it, once and for all before it’s too late, before there is no world left for our children and grandchildren.

Michael John Chappell – Cornish Nationalist &
Assistant General Secretary – The Celtic League International

]]> By: bellacaledonia http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-23 bellacaledonia Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:25:00 +0000 http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-23 Non factual education? What's that? Non factual education? What’s that?

]]> By: William http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-22 William Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:16:59 +0000 http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-22 I have found this site through a number of links and I cannot believe how much the Scottish nation can be demeaned by such nonsense. Thank God Scottish soldiers, sailors and airmen have a sense of duty irrespective of the rights and wrongs of who instructs them to wage war. I cannot be bothered to fisk such an incredible misrepresentation of everything the Union has achieved over the last two hundred years. A product of non factual education, I think. I have found this site through a number of links and I cannot believe how much the Scottish nation can be demeaned by such nonsense. Thank God Scottish soldiers, sailors and airmen have a sense of duty irrespective of the rights and wrongs of who instructs them to wage war. I cannot be bothered to fisk such an incredible misrepresentation of everything the Union has achieved over the last two hundred years.
A product of non factual education, I think.

]]> By: Salmond should push for devolved armed forces « OurKingdom http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-21 Salmond should push for devolved armed forces « OurKingdom Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:48:09 +0000 http://bellacaledonia.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/troops-oot/#comment-21 [...] This is a edited version of Mike Small’s article. You can read the full version on Bella Caledonia here. [...] [...] This is a edited version of Mike Small’s article. You can read the full version on Bella Caledonia here. [...]

]]>