"Money screams". War Child and the Evening Standard

“Money doesn't talk - it screams.” As a co-founder of War Child I reluctantly have to step up to the line on this one. George Osborne voted against saying that the case for war against Iraq had not been established. And on 18 Mar 2003 he voted that the Government should use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction leading to the UK joining the US invasion of Iraq two days later. His support for Western 'intervention' in Libya and Syria was to follow. Now he supports War Child?

Protest in the Digital Age

                 Protest in the Digital Age - Huffington Post, 11 June 2016

Dictation from the Establishment

The Guardian's Michael White says, “... I know that Westminster-based pundits are supposed to be an unimaginative bunch of sheep who take dictation from the 'establishment' ”. Where did he get that idea from? Perhaps it's the memory of his support for Tony Blair and the Iraq slaughter. “It's disappointing for the pack that always gathers where Blair goes, not least because the Get Blair crowd are looking for something that isn't there – the smoking gun that proves Blair's villainy.” Working from an office 'embedded' inside the Westminster parliament, White finds his targets amongst the “romantic beardies who wear sandals and socks to the office.” Who can he be referring to? Pity he couldn't have been at UNITE'S offices last night where I went to help the Jeremy Corbyn campaign. Three rooms packed with volunteers on the phones. At age 70 and beardless, I was probably the oldest there, surrounded by young people, many of whom have never been involved in political activity and hopefully have never read Michael White. None of them were wearing sandals.(I visited MW's Westminster office when working with David Hencke on my WarChild memories. You can read more about David in 'Left Field')

Military Families Against War

Ten years ago, at the time of the 2005 election, and two years after Iraq had been invaded, Brian Eno told me he would put up money for an anti-war candidate to stand against Tony Blair in his Sedgefield constituency. Reg Keys was the father of Lance Corporal Tom Keys, one of six military policemen killed at Majar al-Kabir in Iraq. Tom and his fellow soldiers had been sent to a police station where they were ambushed. They had no radios and had been issued with limited ammunition. In Reg’s words, ‘They were let down in life by the men who sent them to their deaths and they have been let down in death by the people who continually deny responsibility.’ As one of many parents of unnecessarily killed soldiers, Reg was campaigning against the Ministry of Defence and was supported by Military Families Against the War. He had been planning to stand against the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, in Blackburn. I had worked with the journalist, Felicity Arbuthnot, when making a film for ITN on attitudes of Iraqis in the UK to a possible attack on their country. She said we should contact Reg and, through her, I did so. He agreed to switch his candidacy to Sedgefield and I organised his first press conference at Brian’s studio. I got to know Reg, a lovely man, and soon after became a friend of ex-SAS trooper, Ben Griffin, of Veterans for Peace. (VfP) You can read more about the Sedgefield story and about Ben in 'Left Field'. And watch Reg's brilliant put-down of an edgy-looking Tony Blair at the election count. Thanks to Reg and Ben my memoir (to be published in Feb/March 2016) is now linked to VfP and if the book goes into profit, they will get my support. They will get my support even if it doesn't.

Veterans for Peace

Queen & Country

I have been a friend of ex-SAS trooper, Ben Griffin, ever since I attended the High Court to witness his being silenced by the British government for telling the truth about his experiences in Iraq. Today he is an ambulanceman and a leading member of Veterans for Peace UK. He reminds me of ex-soldiers I know from the Bosnian war & who I write about in "Left Field'. Like them he has become a truth-teller, whose voice needs to be heard if we are ever to get over our addiction to war.

The following is a condensed version of Ben's talk at the Oxford Union.

“The idea of fighting for Queen and Country is held by those who have never fought, by those who have no experience of the suffering that war inflicts, by those who gain the most from war - politicians, generals, the arms industry and the media and its armchair hussars.

Who is doing the fighting? A well-trained and professional force whose collective desire is to go to war, any war. This force does not fight for Queen and Country. It fights when and where it is told to fight.

If you believe the media you might imagine that the fighting consists of bayonet charges, lone hand grenade assaults on enemy positions or modern-day Spitfire pilots scrambling to some noble action. In my experience the reality is a lot darker. It involves long periods of waiting punctuated by unforeseen moments of extreme violence, having your legs blown off by an IED, a supposed ally shooting holes in your chest, dying in a helicopter crash, burning to death in a transport plane, being beaten to death by an angry mob, setting up checkpoints in a country you have occupied, disrupting the lives of the people and then killing them when they approach too quickly or fail to stop in time, raiding people’s houses with explosives, detaining young males and handing them over to be tortured, killing people from the safety of a helicopter or drone control room, using words like Haji, Raghead, Sand Nigger, Chogie, Argie, Paddy, Gook, Chink, Jap. Kraut, Hun.

And with all this going on, they cultivate the myth of the soldier as hero. That you should support 'our boys and girls'. That to stop the slaughter would be sacrilege to those heroes that have died.

I am a human being and my allegiance is not to Queen and Country but to the whole of humanity. I no longer accept the lies which perpetuate war. I no longer accept that violence can lead to peace. Never again will I be complicit in the killing and torture of my brothers and sisters. Never again will I accept the vile religion of Patriotism. I refuse to pull on that rancid uniform. I refuse to fight for Queen and Country.”

If 'Left Field' goes into profit, and with your help it will, I'll hand over a portion of them to Veterans for Peace

http://veteransforpeace.org.uk

If we don't make a profit, I will send them some money anyway!

http://unbound.co.uk/books/left-field