“Support our troops†is the mantra of the day. It’s code for “shutup and support the war.†Many military people may get played for pawns but some are my biggest heroes, and the newest happens to be a expat Kiwi. (Hat tip
No Right Turn)
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, born in Australia and raised in New Zealand, is a decorated British army officer who refused to return to Iraq on grounds that the US-led invasion of Iraq was illegal. On 5 October 2005 he was charged with refusing to obey orders. He’s the first British officer to face criminal charges for challenging the legality of the war.
His solicitor, Justin Hugheston-Roberts, told the Sunday Times “He is not arguing that he is a conscientious objector. He is arguing that the war is manifestly unlawful.â€
According to a colleague, “He takes the view this is something which is worth going to prison for.â€
This guy is a hero.
Update: A couple more links. This one gives a little insight into what makes this guy tick. Apparently he has a medical degree and a postgraduate qualification in philosophy from Otago University. His philosophy thesis, a 65-page bound critique on the philosopher Immanuel Kant, grapples with ethics, human freedom and morality. I’d say Tony Blair and his cronies are a little worried at this point. As Kendall-Smith’s main legal spokesman points out, the ramifications of the case are quite awesome.
Jounalist John Pilger elaborates; it could force Britain before the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Yummy.
Update: Photo updated (19 March, 2006).
Some of you might remember when the spoilt one was accidently allowed to be interviewed by real journalist,
Carole Coleman, when he visited Ireland in June 2004:
Realplayer or
mp3.
It became controversial because Junior was upset that spunky
Carole Coleman didn’t roll over and play the good little prostitute of propaganda. It even turned into a diplomatic incident with the White House complaining to the Irish government. Coleman gave a recent account of the interview here. (Hat tip NoRightTurn)
According to Coleman one of Bush’s minions even refered to him as leader of the free world,
and went onto explain to Colemen that she was more vicious than any of the White House press corps or even some of them up on Capitol Hill.
The president leads the interview,
said the minion. Heh.
The Aussies from
CNNN have made their way onto OneGoodMove, an American-based blog that posts highlights from TV shows around the world. The CNNN team often do this thing in the states where they walk around asking people on the street about war and other things dear to the hearts of Americans.
In this clip the question is asked, in terms of the war on terror, who should be the next country to invade?
Predictably they manage to accumulate scads of footage revealing some of the greatest threats to life on this planet, those who blindly follow authority.
What’s kinda interesting, if you read some of the comments on OneGoodMove, is how ready even enlightened Americans are to dismiss such insights into their own culture.
It’s really no surprise that one of the main factors enabling the U.S. to invade other countries is the willingness of its citizens to blithely believe anything their masters tell them. Which in itself is not surprising when you consider the lengths gone to via the Public Relations industry to engineer consent,
to use a phrase coined by Edward Bernays, pioneer of the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion and author of Propaganda in 1928.
In their efforts to drum up more war, armchair war criminals can make some
pretty outlandish statements.
This from the prep school punk draft dodging fanatic himself:
There’s always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory.
And then there’s this pearler from his poodle:
There is no justification for Iran or any other country interfering in Iraq.
Blair apparently said this at a news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. It reminds me of when they talk about the jihadists in Iraq being foreign fighters,
as if the hundreds of thousands of Americans and British weren’t foreign.
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