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Sunday 15 April 2007
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Ex-Army chief slams hostages' 'Med cruise'By Tim Hall Last Updated: 11:54pm BST 14/04/2007
Comments
It is alright for the General to say what he thinks should
have happened to the fifteen who were taken hostage by the Iranians in the
Gulf.General Rose himself an ex SAS soldier has had training to deal with
being captured by the "Enemy".He should look more closely as to why the
troops were under equipped to do the task in hand.They had slow moving
rubber craft to use,they had absolutely no decent firepower or manpower to
take on the Iranians and no air support because the helicopters had to
refuel because the MoD and government cutbacks over the years puts our
defences back to the bows and arrows age.Give them the tools to do the job
and the manpower. Gen. Sir Michael Rose is absolutely right in his comments
about the state of our armed services.However we should not forget that
they are recruited from a society which lost its sense of purpose,
dignity, honesty and pride particularly in the last ten years. All
national institutions, be it political, legal or financial have been
discredited at some time. It is all very sad to me as 50+ years ago I
chose and was allowed to live in England rather than in a corrupt catholic
society. I am afraid they they caught up with me and I have nowhere else
to go now. "Grin and bear" is the the only thing to do. God bless you General rose for your honesty. The armed
forces as you knew it died the day bullying/discipline was introduced as a
criminal offence in the army. I am afraid the army as currently
constituted will not win any conflict in our life time. One of the
returnees said he was bullied by the iranians because they called him mr
bean. British ships captains have been hung for less. I could not agree more! Thank god that someone made a sensible comment about this
unbelievable shambles. These soldiers should be treated with disgrace.
What sort of marines are these that wearing pyjamas and staying in
solitary confinement for few days consititute a psycological torture? They
seemed to forget that they were wearing UNIFORMS, and that has a
significant and important meaning. This is not just ordinary clothes. May
lord help this country if the majority of our servicemen and women think
and behave like this. First sign of hardship and and danger and they will
do anything, sign anything, confess to anything just to get home. If they
cannot bear to be away from home why not become child minder where you
play with fluffy toys all day and then go home. I do not come from a military background but I do
appreciate and agree with the general thrust of the comments made by Gen
Sir Michael Rose. The same lowering of standards and the acceptance of
“that's just the way things are done now,” seems to me to be increasingly
prevalent across many areas of our lives these days and it is altogether
sad to see. It is a fact that due to many factors, Britain is not the
power it used to be. This should not however be allowed to affect the
quality and professionalism that we portray to the rest of the world.
After all, who else is there to do that? The General is 110% correct in everything he says. These
people are a disgrace to their uniform and country, the politicians
involved are a shambles.God help us if ever we have a war. No wonder the
Argentines are starting to flex their muscles again in the
Falklands. On 8 December 1941, the morning after the Pearl Harbor
attack, HMS Peterel was approached by a party of Japanese marines under a
flag of truce. Peterel was a gunboat of the Yangtze River flotilla, and
was tied up at the Bund in Shanghai. Across the river was a Japanese
cruiser and a destroyer from which the maarines had come requiring the
Peterels skipper, Lt Cdr Polkinghorn to surrender. Peterel was a sitting
duck, tied up, armed only with light machine guns, and absolutely no match
for a cruiser. Nevertheless, Polkinghorn threw the Japs off his boat,
waited until they had returned to their cruiser, then ran up his battle
ensign and opened fire. The response was immediate and devastating, and
under point blank fire from the cruisers guns Peterel went down in
seconds. That's how our sailors used to fight. The 'heroes' welcome started with the First Sea Lord so it
came from the top. The General makes many valid points but as a former RAF
Officer who spent 3 years training recruit officers in LEADERSHIP there
seemed to be a complete absence of any from the officers among the 15 RN
and RM personnel taken hostage. As an atypical Telegraph (on line) reader who does not
support flogging or the death penalty I find it odd to say how much I
agree with Gen Rose. I have followed this story agog at the reaction the
antics of the 15 has been met with. They should have been courts
marshalled for dereliction of duty and cowardice for caving in so quickly
and so completely, yet the British public prefers to offer the poor dears
sympathy. No wonder Britain is reduced to the role of the USA's
lapdog! I couldn't agree more. General Rose has voiced the thoughts
and expressions of thousands of people; civilians, ex-military and
currently serving. If the politicians left the soldiering to soldiers
things would be much simpler. Thank you to General Sir Michael Rose for his shrewd
appraisal of this sorry event. Spot on, Sir Michael At last General Sir Michael Rose has had the courage to say
what many must be thinking. Heroes - I don't think so. The author of the article has perhaps overlooked the fact
that we are not at war with Iran. The repercussions had the British forces
opened fire on the Iranian Forces would be far greater than the storm in a
teacup that we've seen in the last few days. Well Done General! You have clearly stated what many of us
are thinking but have not had the forum to say so publicly. This whole
fiasco is a disgrace. Sloppy command and control was to blame and that
emanates from the very top. Heads need to roll. I am a serving soldier and could not agree more. This
incident has made us look stupid and as for accepting money for cowardice
well that is a disgrace in its self. Post a comment
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