And for your information they requested by the American military, unless you are stating that the American military were interfering in your elections by requesting fig leaves.
I am signing of now but just to reiterate my first point you are a prat
"You are a total prat"
Don't worry, since I have no idea what a prat is, so you have not hurt my feelings.
Have you ever heard the expression, "The hit dog howls"? You have just demonstrated the truth of that old saying.
I have read many statements by British civilians, troops, and officers, bragging about the quality of the British forces in Iraq, which I agree with, since I have a great deal of respect for the British military. Unfortunately, almost without exception, these expressions of British pride in their forces were accompanied by put downs of the American forces and their tactics in Iraq. The British put down the Americans for wearing body armor, sunglasses, and helmets, while the British brag that their softly, softly method of wearing no body armor, no sunglasses, and berets instead of helmets was much more effective. The Brits talked about how they made friends with the Iraqis by walking on patrols while the frightened Americans blasted away at civilians with no provocation and hid behind sandbags.
I knew darn well that the reason that different methods were used was that the Americans were in a much more hostile environment than were the British, but I let it slide. When I learnt that the Brits were going to head up to Indian Country, however, I knew that the Black Watch was going to take some casualties, because their tactics would not work in a truly hostile area.
The Black Watch is supposed to only be in Iraq until just before Christmas, which is not very long from now. We will see if they stay up in the tough area until Christmas or if they withdraw first. Already they are not based in the area that they were first supposed to go to. It was first announced that the Black Watch would be based south of Baghdad, in the area where Ken Bigley's body was found near Latifiya. Now it looks like they are supposed to stay west of the Euphrates River, a much less populated and thus less dangerous area than what was initially proposed.
"And for your information they requested by the American military, unless you are stating that the American military were interfering in your elections by requesting fig leaves."
I know that they were requested to go north by the American military. This was so the Marines could go and take Fallujah. Would you prefer that the Black Watch be tasked with taking Fallujah rather than holding our coat while the Marines take Fallujah?
I was not talking about the Black Watch being a fig leaf when going up north. I was talking about the British sending troops into Iraq period. The British were just supposed to sit down there in relatively peaceful Basra and not take any casualties. When the MSM and the Rats attacked Bush for being in Iraq all by ourselves and not having any allies, the President or his backers, including me, could always point to our British friends and say that we did have allies. That was the fig leaf on the naked fact that for all practical purposes we are doing Iraq by ourselves. It was our WTC and Pentagon which were attacked afterall, so I have no problem with us doing by ourselves.
I think it was a mistake to ask the British to move into the more difficult territory. The British public does not like it, the troops of the Black Watch do not like it, and the officers of the Black Watch do not like it. With no support anywhere among the Brits, having the Black Watch take casualties will not be supportable and some face saving method will be found to get them out of there.
It would have been better to have never to have asked the Brits to move, since we really do not need them to knock out Fallujah. That way we could have all maintained the comfortable fiction that the British were really in just as tough an area as the Americans but that the British methods were responsible for the lower British casualties.
Now there are going to be lots of recriminations, such as those of the Black Watch trooper above who calls our President an a@@hole and who claims that the whole war is about nothing but American stupidity and a corrupt desire for Iraq's oil. We all would have been better off without such recriminations, including mine that the Black Watch will be forced to slink out of the north with their tails between their legs and yours that I am a prat for predicting such.
BTW, I do not think that the Black Watch will be forced to abandon their mission due to a lack of bravery on the part of the British troops and officers, which I do not doubt. I think it will be political pressure on the British government exerted by British public opinion that will cause the mission to be "re-evaluated" or some such other weasel words to cover the fact that they will not hang.
Maybe I will be proved wrong. We will see.
Black Watch senior officers question No 10 Iraq strategy
(Filed: 29/10/2004)
Speaking at Basra before boarding an aircraft, 19-year-old Pte Manny Lynch, from Fife, admitted that he was nervous.
He said: "We have heard a lot about the triangle of death, which makes everyone nervous because it seems much worse up there than it has been down here.
"We have controlled the situation down here while the Americans seem to have ruined it up there."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/29/nirq29.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/29/ixnewstop.html
Tony...I hate to see the Brits attacked on this forum. I have the utmost respect for your armed forces (especially your special forces). I served with many Brits during my 8 years of active duty. I'd gladly launch bullets next to you guys any day. Thanks for your help in these tough times. Airborne.