A soldier's life is never an easy one!
published: Wednesday | September 10, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
SINCE THE invasion activities for Iraq has ceased some 50 United States soldiers have been killed. Despite several Iraqis welcoming the demise of Saddam and his loyalists it is inevitable each day that passes the Americans and British will be seen as foreign forces of occupation.
It was recently reported that General Sir Michael Walker reminded the Commons Defence Committee that British forces have been conducting operations, "around the world since World War II." As a soldier who served in Aden and other former colonies in the 1960s, I recall our occupation of their country was often resented and, as well as our soldiers being killed, sometimes we faced chants of "Go home filthy British." I wonder if the General reminded the committee of that.
Sadly, as the killing of our soldiers increases, so does our soldiers' hatred for those who kill their comrades and before long, incidents of brutality committed by the occupation forces will also increase. To make matters worse, because the racial and ethnic origin of the occupation forces differs from the Arab population, racism tends to affect the situation. Some soldiers start to refer to Arabs as Wogs and other derogatory terms, which in turn, worsens the relationship between the occupying forces and the Arab population. A soldier's life is never an easy one!
