[patriotism] can it accommodate conscience

Elvis Presley sang:

Suspicion torments my heart, Suspicion keeps us apart, Suspicion why torture me.

Afraid I, for one, am very suspicious of these snippets:

The rapid rise in food prices could push 100m people in poor countries deeper into poverty, the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has said.

He said the World Bank was working to provide money for seeds for planting in the new season. Mr Zoellick's "New Deal for Global Food Policy" also seeks to boost agricultural policy in poor countries in the longer-term. "

As we know, learning from the past, those kind of questions sometimes end in war," he said.

... and can't help trying to sort out in the head what the long term aim is. I think we have it in "global food policy" and "war". Whenever groups like the World Bank, the UN or NATO get involved, trouble usually ensues. It's the Kissinger Syndrome - wherever he visited, e.g. Rwanda, SE Asia, unnecessary trouble followed.

Henry Kissinger was quoted in the book “Kiss the Boys Goodbye", written by a Vietnam Vet.

"Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”

Quite frankly, I have problems with material like that. As ex-military myself, sharing beliefs with such people as Steve Green and James Cleverly on the military, a check of my "About" reveals a man who believes in G-d, Queen and country.

That's how I was brought up. That's how I did my service.

In later years though I began to discover what the Kissingers of the world were really up to and though I have little time for Ellsberg as a person, he did open up our eyes. Now what are we going to do? Are we going to ignore what we now know to be true?

This is tough for a Neocon who supports his country's forces wherever they are - do you think I don't? Do you think I'm not furious the way our troops are treated? And look at this, from a Canadian, Halls of Macadamia:

The once mighty British Empire has fallen... you need go no further than this...

They serve the same Queen, fight the same foe and lay down their lives with equal valour and sacrifice. But when the fallen heroes of Canada and Britain come home, the welcome is very different.

I really urge you to click on that link and follow it down. Now read what James Cleverly said here:

I felt almost sick reading this blog post in the Telegraph about the breakdown in relationship between the British military and local Iraqi forces.

The short-termism in Gordon Brown's government has created a situation where the troops in Iraq can no longer do their job but are still at risk from daily attacks.

A typical comment on that article was by one Chris H:

With New Labour we have had a government that both despises military and knows next to nothing about it. Despite this, the government has engaged in a series of military adventures with little thought for the consequences and no desire to take responsibility or to support the troops.

Now I'm quite conscious that Verlin Martin, a Neocon, sees me as some sort of Truther and therefore as a kooky lefty but what do you do, Verlin, when you can't trust the people in charge up top? What do you do when prima facie indicates they've acted in a pretty shabby way?

What do you do when regular forces top brass come out with statements about the leadership?

Hey, I get a little hot under the collar and start calling these politicians traitors. I don't trust these bstds as far as I can kick them and they sure as hell don't give a damn about the forces at their command.

Eaton, Zinni and company - are they the traitors for drawing attention to this thing?

Lt Gen Dannart - was he wrong to butt in and say enough is enough?