U.K. to get tough on deserters
Jun 3, 2006 8:49:04 GMT -5
Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Jun 3, 2006 8:49:04 GMT -5
I've gone back in the threads to see just where this would best fit, but I really couldn't find anything. It's not a long article so I'll just cut and paste it here.
U.K. to get tough with deserters
Last Updated Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:42:41 EDT
CBC News
Britain's Ministry of Defence says nearly 1,000 British soldiers have deserted from the army since the invasion of Iraq.
More than 900 have evaded arrested and are still on the run.
In 2001, 86 soldiers were missing. That number jumped to 377 in 2005. So far, in 2006, 189 soldiers are considered absent without leave.
Those numbers don't take into account ex-soldiers like Ben Griffin, a former SAS paratrooper who served in Iraq for four months last year. When he returned to Britain on leave, he knew he could not go back.
"There's this sort of opinion that soldiers aren't capable of making the decisions between right and wrong," said Griffin. "It's like, 'Who are you to decide whether the war in Iraq is wrong?' Well I've been to Iraq, I've seen what's going on, and I know it's wrong."
Griffin says the war was destroying too many innocent lives. He did not desert, but he understands the discontent many say is behind the growing number of soldiers gone AWOL.
The ministry of defence refuses to draw a link between increased desertions and the war in Iraq. But the government is trying to clamp down on dissent by introducing a controversial bill that would put soldiers in prison for life for refusing to serve in Iraq.
Gilbert Blades, a military expert and a lawyer who represents soldiers at courts martial, says the government is doing what it can to control dissent in the ranks.
Griffin was allowed to leave the military after telling his commanding officer he was not prepared to return to Iraq. He is now studying to become an ambulance technician.
"It did feel a bit isolated when you first leave, but I've never once regretted the reason why I left and I would do it again, tomorrow."
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Some of you already know that I was in favour of the Iraqi war when it first started. However, in lieu of all the evidence, or lack of evidence, over the past few years, I feel I've been mislead.
Personally, I don't like this initiative at all. First, soldiers, sailors and airmen have alway complied with what their governments haveasked ordered them to do. And in this instance these coalition governments have ordered their forces into an unjust war based on misleading and sometimes doctored intelligence reports.
Secondly, as is almost always the case, forces personnel are often taken for granted. It seems politicians will simply debate so as to provide smoke for the agendas they have already made up their minds for. To me, some of these debates are nothing more than lip service. And once that lip service is concluded, the papers are signed, the bills are passed and the politicians go home for supper.
Also note that the article cites, "the government is doing what it can to control dissent in the ranks." Forgive me, but that's the same government who chose to partake in an unjust war. If they really wanted to control dissent in the ranks ... forget it ... they've probably all gone home by now.
Cheers.
U.K. to get tough with deserters
Last Updated Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:42:41 EDT
CBC News
Britain's Ministry of Defence says nearly 1,000 British soldiers have deserted from the army since the invasion of Iraq.
More than 900 have evaded arrested and are still on the run.
In 2001, 86 soldiers were missing. That number jumped to 377 in 2005. So far, in 2006, 189 soldiers are considered absent without leave.
Those numbers don't take into account ex-soldiers like Ben Griffin, a former SAS paratrooper who served in Iraq for four months last year. When he returned to Britain on leave, he knew he could not go back.
"There's this sort of opinion that soldiers aren't capable of making the decisions between right and wrong," said Griffin. "It's like, 'Who are you to decide whether the war in Iraq is wrong?' Well I've been to Iraq, I've seen what's going on, and I know it's wrong."
Griffin says the war was destroying too many innocent lives. He did not desert, but he understands the discontent many say is behind the growing number of soldiers gone AWOL.
The ministry of defence refuses to draw a link between increased desertions and the war in Iraq. But the government is trying to clamp down on dissent by introducing a controversial bill that would put soldiers in prison for life for refusing to serve in Iraq.
Gilbert Blades, a military expert and a lawyer who represents soldiers at courts martial, says the government is doing what it can to control dissent in the ranks.
Griffin was allowed to leave the military after telling his commanding officer he was not prepared to return to Iraq. He is now studying to become an ambulance technician.
"It did feel a bit isolated when you first leave, but I've never once regretted the reason why I left and I would do it again, tomorrow."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of you already know that I was in favour of the Iraqi war when it first started. However, in lieu of all the evidence, or lack of evidence, over the past few years, I feel I've been mislead.
Personally, I don't like this initiative at all. First, soldiers, sailors and airmen have alway complied with what their governments have
Secondly, as is almost always the case, forces personnel are often taken for granted. It seems politicians will simply debate so as to provide smoke for the agendas they have already made up their minds for. To me, some of these debates are nothing more than lip service. And once that lip service is concluded, the papers are signed, the bills are passed and the politicians go home for supper.
Also note that the article cites, "the government is doing what it can to control dissent in the ranks." Forgive me, but that's the same government who chose to partake in an unjust war. If they really wanted to control dissent in the ranks ... forget it ... they've probably all gone home by now.
Cheers.