The humiliating treatment handed out to Iraqi prisoners of war by a handful of British soldiers last year was, and still is, a shameful disgrace.
There are no two ways to look at the final result, it’s embarrassing and potentially dangerous for both Great Britain and the British Army. That’s even before we even get to the subject of the poor victims involved, who are little more than common thieves in their own country.
Breakfast TV wheeled out an ex Colonel this morning to hear what he had to say on the subject, the results where the usual political rhetoric of a few bad apples ect. He did however suggest that any task involving humans will ultimately contain an element of failure. The margin for error increases exponentially as the amount of individuals involved with a project increases. He is right of course. A certain amount of mistakes must be expected when we dabble in abnormal operations, on a tight budget, in foreign parts.
And ultimately, what did we really expect? We have a history of treating the Army in a dreadful manner; they have always been underpaid, badly equipped and overstretched in policing dubious politics of the powerful and greedy. They have been performing peacekeeping duties at home and abroad 365 days a year since the WW2, often 12 on 12 off for months on end with no overtime or thanks.
It comes down to this: The Guardian, The Independent and all the rest of those shitty newspapers, with their over educated witty columnists, are more than happy to ignore the underclass while they carry out our filthiest work for next to nothing. It’s only when it goes wrong, which it inevitably will, that they start to sneer and criticize from the safety of a warm office.
It’s not the Army’s fault, we’re all to blame.