Carl, thanks for the image and the misquoted line, but for your info here are some of the facts just to put the record straight (excuse the "cut-n-paste" of the main points) :-
"The series of private emails between myself and the MD of Forces Recruitment Services that he leaked to the Sun were over a period of 8 days, but none of the facts or critical points I raised in those emails were even mentioned in the British press. The Mail managed to run the story without even speaking to me, and The Sun completely invented half of the story and distorted the rest. For the record, I did not blame my staff for sending the emails, and we do not employ paedophiles, and would not knowingly do so. We do however employ ex-military staff, and one ex-British Army member of our staff has been with us for years. What I initially objected to was being asked by FRS to give preferential treatment to ex-British Military employees, especially as FRS were charging employers up to £5,000 for each vacancy they manage to fill. Our policy is to hire on an individuals merit - not what they have done in the past. The subsequent emails to the MD were in response to his initial reply saying he was amazed that anybody would dare to suggest the British Army were guilt of war crimes against civilians.
Once I heard that The Sun had the story, it would of course have been relatively simple to issue an immediate apology for what I said in my private emails, and given my full support to the British Army - It would have gone some considerable way to neutralise the story and the hostility, but I would have found it very difficult to explain my position, for instance, to the mother of Carol Ann Kelly who's 12 year old daughter was shot by a British Army soldier, or the many other victims families that I have pledged to support over the years.
The torture and murder of 8 Iraqi prisoners while in military custody, or the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan do not seem to cause the outrage that it should if we as a nation truly value justice and human rights. Britain and the US are signatories to not only the Geneva Convention, but numerous UN agreements covering the treatment of civilians and prisoners of war. We rightly condemn the Gestapo, the NKVD, or even Saddam Hussein for their war crimes, yet our own governments knowingly permit the abduction of civilians, the torture of prisoners, and the killing of unarmed civilians to be regularly carried our in our name. If such abuses by the state are now to be permitted our governments should have the honesty to say so. The derisory investigations that are carried out by the British Army are a complete whitewash, and they have been for years. To allow 8 prisoners to be murdered and not end up with a conviction carrying a heavy sentence is an insult to justice and not least the victims family.
Over the years I have also spent time in the Middle East, India and Pakistan. In Peshawar some years ago I was in a hospital where Mujahedeen soldiers were being cared for. (The US and Britain in those days referred to them as "freedom fighters"). At the the bedside of each soldier was either a Russian AK47 or an RPG7 - both highly valued status symbols, and an integral part of the western image that we have of many of these people. Yet in conversation, these young men wanted nothing more from life that we in the UK and US take for granted. They do not wish to be ruled by a foreign power, and they want an end of economic and political injustices - the story is the same throughout history, and it applies to almost every conflict going on in the world today. The methods and cultural influences may be different, but people the world over all share similar aspirations. The failure to meet such basic human aspirations is simply because such demands do not serve the interests of our global political and economic system.
Over the past few weeks I've had to put up with death threats, and a deluge of emails and phone calls from complete cretins who seem to regard our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as somehow defending our "freedom". This view may be what Blair or Brown want us to believe but it really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It's only a few years ago when the British and US governments were giving the Taliban 5 start hotel treatment in London and Washington in exchange for lucrative oil pipeline contracts. But of course this "war" is all about oil and the US / UK desire to get to the oil in Kazakhstan / Turkmenistan region by building a pipeline through Afghanistan and out via Iran or Pakistan. The long term plan for the US is to have access to the oil in that region without being dependant on the goodwill of Russia - the oil at present goes through Russian pipelines, though there are massive areas of oil in that region that are undeveloped and which the US wishes to get its hands on."
Over the years Carl, I have spent a considerable amount of time and money supporting civil and human rights, and not least the campaign by the families of the 400 unarmed, men, women and children, who have been killed by the British Army in the north of Ireland.
My uncle USAF Staff Sergeant 38270938 Lynn Tigner saw action in WW2 and he was based in Newbury in the 1950's. Like yourself he was proud of his USAF services - but he remained capable of recognising that wars are not black and white (the good guys Vs the bad guys) he was ashamed for instance of his role in the bombing of Dresden, and other German cities, which he afterwards regarded as "a war crime", and he did not regard war as anything but a shameful exercise. I have on my desk a box of medals from other family members that go back to WW1 - with all respect Carl, I do not need reminding of the cost of war, or of the half-truths, lies, and outright deceptions that our governments (and the media) spread in order to justify the unnecessary slaughter of men, women and children, especially when most wars are manufactured by vested interests who have no intention themselves of ever becoming its victim.
Regards
Karl
