Last night, at around 2.45am, I saw the first attacks on Iraq on Granada Televisions 24hr 'News' channel. I say "News" but what I really mean is propaganda. The UK will be deluged with propaganda as we have been ever since Sept 11th when the civilian population of the USA was attacked by people who were willing to die. America called the hijackers 'cowards', but it is ridiculous to portray these people as 'cowards' and simply dismiss them as crazy.

The Sept 11 hijackers spent a long period of time preparing for their attack. Unlike the British Soldiers currently in the gulf, these people were not driven to join an 'army' by unemployment, boredom or the need to get a trade. Every Army in history has killed civilians, but most Soldiers, certainly the British ones, will not be volunteering to die for their Country in a hurry. Not even the SAS would willingly become suicide bombers. A lot of the lads in the current Iraq War will be from the Northwest of England, a region of the UK which has always been subject to high unemployment and drastic cuts in social funding. A lot of the lads who joined up would have seen no real future on Civvy Street, and joining up was a decision which had little to do with any inclination to help people or a need to become involved in 'humanitarian relief'. Today's British Solider is NOT in the position the lads of World War One and Two were in. It was Hitler's invasion of another Country which started world war two, it's ironic that World War Three has been started, in effect, by British Troops invading a Country which has been bombed into the stone age for the past 12 years by USA and British Bombers. The British army today is a mercenary force fighting for USA World Domination. Blair has rubber stamped this and has himself been long courted by the Americans as someone they could eventually use. Blair is a traitor to the UK.

Our Politicians talk of rebuilding Iraq, when it would be as well to not bomb it in the first place. When the UK and USA unleash the so called 'shock and awe' wave of bombs and missiles and kill innocent Iraqis, our troops, it could be argued, are no better than the Sept 11th Hijackers they are supposedly partly attacking Iraq for. The Hijackers were NOT from Iraq, and not one shred of evidence connects Iraq to the Sept 11th Hijackers. But it seems certain that once the USA and UK has finished 'business' in Iraq, that the death toll of civilians will very likely be more than a match for the total number killed in the USA.

Every British Troop will have to face up to the fact that they have helped kill innocent people. The children they will kill will haunt many, and they will carry the shame of their deeds to the grave. Very few British troops would be able to kill children face to face, but in today's technologically reliant Military, all it needs is for a solider is to press a button or click the mouse on a laptop to send missiles and bombs reigning down on a Country and its civilian population. Those soldiers who may rely on that age old excuse 'I'm only doing a Job' should be ashamed. The internet will be first to publish photos of civilian casualties and the media here will eventually show the carnage which will be the end result of all this 'precision bombing'. The First Gulf War in 1991 saw many troops committing suicide after the war due to trauma and post traumatic stress disorder. Did anyone give a damn for the Iraqi poor conscripts our troops slaughtered and buried by bulldozers in mass graves? The Road to Basra was a slaughter of Iraqi troops, many opposed to Saddam, forced by gunpoint to go to Kuwait. These peasants were press-ganged into joining and were used as target practice by British and USA Troops.

A Question for Soldiers

At the end of the day, the Armed Forces take orders from the Politicians. A solider signs on the dotted line agreeing that he or she will not question any decisions given from the top. You are the arse end of the chain of command, and if they tell you 2+2=5, you will say 'Yes Sir', although you will laugh with the lads afterwards. The politicians and your commanding officers know you'll fight, not for God Queen or Country, but for your fellow soldiers, your mates. My question to any solider is why didn't you put that enthusiasm into your own community? It would be better to fight for the towns you came from, the estates and cities and towns were life was a struggle anyway and there was a War to be fought just trying to rebuild our own communities. Tony Blair, who you now fight blindly for, is a man who forced a lot of you to join the Army in the first place. How many of you looked at the local Job Centers JOKE WAGES and useless NEW DEALS and decided there was f**k all for you here? Now some of you are ready to fire guns and bombs at a people who you know little of.

Next Stop Iran

To any lads from Kirkby involved in the War. I hope you make it home safe but in no way can I support your actions there or defend them morally. It is however unlikely that many troops will be going home in the near future.(apart from those sent home in 'sleeping bags' as Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins put it in a pre battle pep speech to UK troops) The USA has already got Iran in its sights as declared in the following senate resolution………."it should be the policy of the United States to seek a genuine democratic government in Iran that will restore freedom to the Iranian people, abandon terrorism, and live in peace and security with the international community" Looks like War on Iran then seems as the USA and UK are going to be next door to it and can use Iraq as a launch route for the Attack. Korea also will be a formidable enemy which will, if provoked, cause the deaths of thousands of USA and UK troops.

Leave the Armed Forces and fight for your communities

I hope any Soldiers who eventually read this leave the Armed Services and help rebuild Kirkby or wherever you may come from. Our own Community is what matters most; it's only now that you're away from home that you will maybe see the good in the community you come from. New Labour's NEW DEAL for these lads is to ask them to kill for America. If we can afford the Billions to spend on this war (and we obviously can) why could not that money have gone into our Communities instead? These lads could have been given Jobs as Community Wardens rather than the hired killers of Bush.

We have seen too many young men from Kirkby killed on foreign lands. Sickeningly, the War memorial in St Chads Churchyard has been vandalised by generations of youths who are ignorant fools for sullying the memory of lads who did fight a 'just war' against fascism. As a youth, I vowed NEVER to join the names on similar memorials, because if anything's worth fighting for, it has to be our Community, not the politicians.

The World is in many ways turned upside down. What would the mother of an Iraqi child make of the reasons given by a 19 yr old lad from Kirkby for dropping bombs on their Country? Any Soldiers are welcome to give there own view of things. No spindoctored nonsense please, no army press releases. Kirkby Times will be putting up a links page and publishing photos of the civilian casualties as we get them from various sources on the internet. The news blackout will not take effect here, on Kirkby Times, were free Speech isn't just a throwaway phrase.

Another time another century ago, lads from Kirkby fought for the Free speech which Kirkby Times now has the opportunity to engage in. To those lads, those of us who know our history will forever be in your debt, even though many are long since dead. I don't think I'm the only person in Kirkby who goes to the memorial when in the 'Chad' to pay respects. This website has campaigned online for almost a year to draw attention to the memorials disrepair below.

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

-Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle

Can patter out their hasty orisons.

No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;

Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-

The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes

Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.

The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;

Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,

And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Wilfred Owen Soldier and Poet. More poems here.

These are the Webmasters own comments, feel free to join the debate. Do you think this War is right? If so, articulate just why it is and send your comments and views to Kirkby Times.

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