web analytics

Where Have All The Gunboats Gone?

I was proud to be British. When I was a mere gossoon of five years or so, I remember my father telling me that to be British was to be safe. Wherever I was in the world, if I was in trouble the British government would ensure I was not harmed. If necessary, he said, they’d send a gunboat to rescue me.

As I grew older I learned of the great land across the ocean, America, where citizens could rely on their government to ensure they were safe, wherever in the world they were at the time. I felt proud that my country was allied to the great power of America. To hold either a British or American passport meant security from harm. No foreign power would dare to meddle with an American, or British, citizen.

A Brit in trouble

It may have been something of a fanciful notion, even in the 1950s, but there’s no doubt both governments held more power in the world then than they do today.

That young lad of five years or so, is now a man of sixty-eight. Given the appalling events in the Middle East over the last few months, and the foul slaughter of British and American citizens by the abomination that passes by the name, ISIS, or IS, or ISIL, I can only ask myself, “What happened?”

Following the latest beheading of a US aid worker, British leader David Cameron, told Parliament, “The UK won’t be cowed…”, before retiring to 10 Downing Street for his nightly supper of caviar and chips.

America’s leader, Barack Obama, called this latest cold-bloodied murder, “Evil.” He then collected his clubs and headed back out to the golf course.

Why are we sitting back and letting this group of thugs torture and behead our citizens while we do absolutely nothing about it? Well, not quite nothing. The British Ministry of Defence released a video of a missile strike on an ISIS communications vehicle. If that doesn’t get them on the run…

There can be no doubt that the dire situation in Iraq today is a direct result of the US/UK 2003 invasion of that country. The political vacuum left after the demise of Saddam Hussein allowed ISIS easy entry, and their barbaric actions have fueled both fear, and a misplaced loyalty, among those who purport to support the organization.

Sparrow Chat has never been an advocate of warmongering, but when evil – not satanic, but man-made – threatens to destabilize the world it must be quashed, quickly and efficiently.

The world gradually became aware of that in 1939, when the evil of the Nazi regime erupted over Europe like a poisonous, pyroclastic, cloud. Its eventual defeat resulted in the formation of NATO, a joint military task force designed to prevent such evil beings from gaining power again.

Where is NATO today? America halfheartedly bombs the occasional ISIS convoy; Britain, even more reluctantly, takes out the odd ISIS pick-up truck. Why does no-one mention NATO anymore? Surely, this situation is right for a joint strike force, so Islamic militants can’t point a finger at any one Western power as being the enemy?

Virtually every US political commentator given airtime on the media is quick to state that, “It’s not our fight. We should leave them to sort out their own problems.” Just two weeks ago, Bill Maher’s panel, along with the man himself, was 100% in favor of ‘washing our hands’, like a concert of little Pontius Pilate’s happy to delegate the responsibility to some other authority.

The mess in the Middle East is entirely down to the irresponsible antics of Western powers over the last one hundred years, culminating in the criminal invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is solely our responsibility. We broke it. We must mend it. If we don’t, we may well continue to pay for it for a long, long, time to come.

I’m no longer proud to be British, or American. I’m no longer that gossoon of five years or so. I’ve grown up, and now I see things as they truly are.

3 Replies to “Where Have All The Gunboats Gone?”

  1. I don’t know on this one, RJ. The more the UK and USA do, the more members of ISIS or other opposing forces will emerge out of the woodwork.
    I don’t see them as equivalent, or even near, to Hitler and the Nazis – yet. It’d be impossible to rid the world of all of them, because others will spring up, more determined than before.
    I just don’t know.

  2. Twilight – there are 390 million people living in the fifteen nations that make up the Middle East (I haven’t included Israel). ISIS is now by far the largest Jihardist organization in the region. Many ex al Qaeda members, and those from similar organizations have joined ISIS. Western analysts put the number of ISIS fighters at between 20,000 and 50,000. Iraqi security experts have estimated the numbers nearer 100,000, but they have a habit of exaggerating somewhat, so the figure is probably nearer 75,000 to 80,000.
    If they’re not dealt with now, by a large NATO force capable of defeating and driving them out of Iraq, it’s almost certain Turkey will become the next country in their sights. Recep Erdogan, Turkey’s president, has already begun to display his Muslim leanings. Only this week he announced it was a Muslim who discovered America, and that America is really a Muslim country. He’s even offered to pay for a mosque to be built in Cuba. To me this smacks of a man preparing for the possibility of defeat by ISIS, and hoping for a part in the new ‘caliphate’. Let’s not forget, Constantinople was the capital of the Ottoman caliphate empire. The aim of ISIS is to restore that caliphate. If that should happen, ISIS would command the doorway to Europe. It may sound fantastic, but it’s certainly not impossible if the West sits back on its arse and does nothing.
    Meanwhile, 390 million innocent people live with the fear of ISIS possibly landing on their doorsteps, with all the resulting barbarity and cruelty that would ensue.
    Can we really afford to sit back and do nothing to stop it?

  3. Thanks for the extra detail, RJ.

    Our idiot senator James Inhofe more or less agrees with you, which “queers the pitch” a bit for me. 😉 Maybe even Inhofe can be right once a lifetime.

    I do agree that if a major offensive were to take place it should be by a NATO force and not just US military.

Comments are closed.

Hosted By A2 Hosting

Website Developed By R J Adams