Don't protest against Our Boys' invasion of Basra and them kicking the shit out of innocent people, or the Sun will call you "vile" and "sick".Between 601,027 and 1 million people have died since March 2003 as a result of the invasion of Iraq. All but the most die-hard of warmongers would now concede that such carnage was the result of, at best, a reckless war and, at worst, this decade's most shameful crime against humanity.
However, according to the Sun, if the protests against the British role in Iraq involve people of Islamic creed, then the placard wavers are none other than "sick Muslim extremists". Yesterday, their fault was apparently that of shouting 'Baby killers' at a group of British soldiers returning from Basra.
The protesters were holding banners that read "Anglian Soldiers - Criminals, Murderers, Terrorists". The Sun interpreted them as "vile abuse hurled at Our Iraq Boys" and added the customary comments from "one man who had given up his lunch break to salute the troops" saying that "To hear people scream 'Baby Killers' at them and unfurl banners accusing them of being butchers was absolutely appalling".
Absolutely appalling? We know that a paper as intellectually stimulating as The Sun can bamboozle the brain and play tricks on the memory, but let's just remind your average Sun reader and lunch break martyr of what Our Boys did. For instance, the fun video (see below) filmed by the Boys themselves as they were enjoying brutally beating and kicking defenceless Iraqi teenagers in an army compound in Basra.
Gordon Brown said yesterday that "[T]he whole country is proud of our brave servicemen and women who serve their country with great distinction and courage", but you'd have to be a pretty spineless human being to be proud of stuff like the video shown below. Which, lest we forget, was only fortuitously caught on camera, suggesting that it was just the tip of the iceberg. And in fact, more evidence of torture and unlawful killings at the hands of 'Our Boys' has kept pouring in ever since (as also powerfully portrayed by the film the The Mark of Cain).
That The Sun doesn't see that instead as "vile" and "sick" is yet another sign that they should simply stick to Page Three.
3 comments:
The Sun? You should have heard the Radio 4 pundit last night saying how the demonstrators themselves needed police protection because the (sensible, respectable, like you and me) majority were so appalled that anyone should take issue with the war, its origins and its murderous effects.
Just to let you know, that shitbag rag was recently banned by Alex Ferguson from his press conferences.
The whiskey nosed guy earned by respect.
Hi, I found your blog via a link via a link on Liberal Conspiracy, and it inspired me to write my own post on the subject.
I felt that video needed to be seen by as many people as possible, so thanks for putting it up and for your thought-provoking analysis.
What really gets me is this jingoistic rubbish about having to support our soldiers, and they being blameless because politicians ordered them to war. "Just following orders" is no longer any defence.
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