myblackwrx

iTrader: (1)

I think people are p*ssed of about this war is because they thought it would be possibly a quick job,found out it's not and don't like it (bit like Vietnam really)
I'll think you find the UK has a fine tradition of starting wars with anybody and everybody.

Dave1980

agree with all the threads above, they should never be forgotten.

as much as i used to like hearing the old war stories from my grandad years ago it must have been horrific at the time.

i am sure that on the 70th anniversary of D-Day it will be remembered in the public eye once again. although i doubt many of the veterans will be left who survived it by then.

Leslie

Do you think people are upset because in the first place it was illegal in international law, we were lied to about the so called necessary reasons for starting it, there was no plan for the aftermath of the war, Iraq has been to all purposes been destroyed and electricity and water is scarce and unreliable, thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed both before and after the war, and are still being murdered every day, the country is in civil war with external factions making it even worse, we have lost 150 of our soldiers fighting in a foreign country in an effort to maintain law and order after our actions destroyed it, we are a major international target for terrorism, the cost to our economy has been immense, and there is as yet no sign of being able to leave the country in sight?

I could go on Geezer, but isn't that nearly enough to **** people off about it anyway?

Les

Longjing

continuing Leslie's theme... in 1939 Britain and France had clear treaty obligations to defend Poland were it invaded. We didn't have to honour those obligations, perhaps, but it seems quite different to me... in the case of Iraq part of the problem is that lots of people are very sceptical about the reasons for going to war and the evidence behind it. The political reasoning behind war in Iraq stinks. I don't that was true in 1939.

druddle

I think one of the most mind altering points of my life was standing on Omaha, Utah and Arromanches beaches after reading alot about WW2 and just trying to imagine the carnage......

Dave

andythejock01wrx

Schutz Staffel soldat - " ich habe meine Befehlung gefolgt".

Sbradley

**** me - a PSL post with which I have absolutely no argument and am in total agreement.

Reassuring to know that there is a genuine, decent person behind the username. Occasionally

SB

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

To me the difference between WW2 and the Iraqi war is that in 1939 we had to defend Poland, from Hitler, In Iraq we didn't have to get invovled at all, but did we not invade it for the second time? We should have finished it the first time around and we just might not be in such a mess as we are now and also innocent lives may have been saved
Cheers
Colin

Geezer

Of course, in 1939 we had said that we would defend Poland. However, when you say 'we' you of course mean a decision taken by HM Government of the time. Do you know how popular that decision was? I doubt it. I bet the people of 1939 had little thought for the Poles, any more than we wanted to go war against Iraq.

So, in 2003, our government went to war (rightly or wrongly, and I agree, wrongly, but that is not my point), same as they did in 1939. Our viewpoint is irrelevant really.

Geezer

Abdabz

A good initial post indeed. Something for us all to think about. Brave men in horrific circumstances...

Anyhoo, I'm glad the Germans didnt win the war, because I only got a C in GCSE German, but I got an A in GCSE English

Leslie

People thought very differently in 1939 than they do now. The vast majority would always think of others before themselves and would also go along with what they thought was the honourable and right thing to do. Modern day politicians are very selfish people and that is what controls their thinking and policies. This type of behaviour reflects on the people in many ways.

It was considered a point of honour that one should fight for one's country in those days and with respect to the attack on the Poles it was realised also how important our resistance to that was to the safety of this country. Hitler's attacks in those days were the pretty obvious indication that he was ambitious to control the whole of Europe, and probably more than that!

As PSL so rightly said, the Services fought on our behalf and so many died defending our freedoms. Those who are too lazy to vote are letting those brave men's memory down!

Les

Geezer

I don't pretend to know what all the people in 1939 thought Les, but my father was a boy, my grandfather fought in the war, and they tell me that war was somehting that people definitely did not want. Remember alot of them remembered the carnage of WWI, and after all, that is why France capitulated so quickly, they didn't want another Verdun.

The Great War was probably the last time that the public were 'up for it', since then, it's only governments sadly.

Geezer

Paddi70

Well said