Thank You to the British Troops – You’re The Best

Comment at end

17th March 2008

In the run-up to five years in Iraq I will be posting some videos, links and messages here in support of our troops. Please let me know if you see anything I could use here, and feel free to send your own messages to our boys and girls.

The Help For Heroes website, launched on 1st October, 2007, raises money for our wounded servicemen and women.

“What is H4H all about? It’s about the blokes, our men and women. It’s about Derri, a rugby player who has lost both his legs, it about Carl whose jaw is wired up so he has been drinking through a straw. It’s about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on the stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. It is about Ben, its about Steven and Andy and Mark, its about them all. They are just blokes but they are our blokes; they are our heroes. We want to help our heroes.”

A new poll shows that 50% of Iraqis think their lives are good, more than at any time in the last three years.

The poll for the BBC, ABC, ARD and NHK of more than 2,000 people also suggests that a majority believe that security in their area has improved since 2007. And while most Iraqis still believe US troops are making things worse, the number who want the Americans to pull out immediately has fallen.

[Picture: This tells you who Iraqi children know they can trust. While all around are fleeing for cover from an insurgent attack, the soldier stands tall, and the boy knows who is there to protect him. With thanks to ‘Humbled Infidel’ for this and for the great website where I found it. It says – “Sure didn’t see this on CNN, NBC, ABC or CBS”. No. Nor on the BBC!]

Support an Armed Forces Day

(From the Telegraph’s campaign)

‘Amarillo’

Some British Army troops

British Army Helicopters

British Army show off Apache Helicopter

‘Bring Him Home’ – from Les Miserables

John Owen Jones (from Cardiff’s Millennium Centre)

Recorded for the Welsh language television channel – S4C

What a voice!

THANK YOU SHAZ FOR THESE LINKS

(I’ll paste some of the excellent videos in their instant view mode for easy watching, asap)

Shaz says:

“As promised here is a long, long list of video clips, journalist blogs embedded in Iraq, soldier blogs and humanitarian sites working in Iraq and Afghanistan.

First of all here are the Video clips on the progress of the country, rebuilding of the country and humanitarian missions done by the troops.”

Al Qudis Boys High School: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAe_HmdB8Y8

Electrical Power Infrastructure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrjBRkRW97w

New Turbines at Al-Quds Power Plant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNYgbt7qCXM

Not everyone shoots – Soldiers help children in Iraq: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bza7CVfe3sw

US soldiers helping kids in Iraq, including a girl with a heart condition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhvtFFy2arQ

Electricity in Northern Babil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9lYtkfpJfM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcIZ7Ye1WHY&feature=related

Solar streetlights for Fallujah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgG4v4CXrg4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tKoPCPC9SI&feature=related

The future of Iraq – Girls School in Baghdad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYVYukoCVZY&feature=relate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGmTWw4cr0w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx09rJObPc0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQyAm-FGKE0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ve18I4jlvc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfzWTAMCAos&feature=related

Playing soccer with Iraqi kids – from a soldier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3sxop1-PkI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7dy0M4pJ1Q&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TUNEXAXThA&feature=related

Gifts of shoes to Iraqi children: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3FEtGdDAGc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQZlTsqp3-I&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eCa34ZfKI0&feature=related

“Now for the embedded journalist blogs Michael Totten, and Michael Yon. These are American blogs embedded with US army who interact with the Iraqi population, their blogs make very interesting stories telling both good and bad news as it comes. No doubt Arlene probably knows about Michael Yon.”

http://michaeltotten.com/

http://67.192.120.151/index.php

“Now for the soldier blogs. These are also American no doubt there are UK ones but I haven’t come across them as yet.”

http://www.blackfive.net/

http://www.mudvillegazette.com/milblogs/

http://www.soldiersperspective.us/

http://blackanthem.com/

http://www.mudvillegazette.com/

“Lastly humanitarian mission performed by the troops/local charity organisations.”

http://www.operationiraqichildren.org/

“The above site features Gary Sinise American actor in CSI American TV series, also was in the film Apollo 13 . He spends a lot of time and effort of his own time, going out to Iraq supporting the Iraqi people, also supporting the American troops as well as Gary is in a music group that goes out to play to the troops in Iraq and within the USA.”

http://spiritofamerica.net/

“Happy reading !!!

From Shaz”

Thank you, Shaz. Much appreciated

//////////

19 Responses to “Thank You to the British Troops – You’re The Best”

Arlene Says:
March 19, 2008 at 8:43 pm | Reply
Oh yes! These men and women of valor. PERIOD!
shaz Says:
March 20, 2008 at 8:30 am | Reply
Hi

I agree the British troops are the best, along with all the other Nations troops that have decided enough is enough as regards Bin Laden and his friends. They are all doing an amazing job in the most difficult of circumstances against enemy who don’t wear any uniforms, who deliberately hide behind civilians, an enemy who comes out with such horrendous propaganda stints it is beyond belief sometimes , and finally to a Media that all it is concerned about is what bomb went off today and what the score is as regards solider body bags in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the Stop The War group and others do a march the Media encourage it, in fact join in with the comments glad that the march is on and wishing they could be there !! What worries me is what kind of message is this sending out to our enemy I wonder, the wrong sort that’s for sure. The enemy know that all they need to do is bomb a country anywhere around the world doesn’t matter if it isn’t in Iraq or Afghanistan, the Media will spin it somehow doing their work for them.

The soldiers must get very fed up with all of this, very fed up that when there is a really good story to be told of courage or a humanitarian story to do with a civilian in any of the war torn countries it will never get told on the MSM, the only place you will see these stories are on the Blogs, I know because I read them. There are so many stories that have come out of these two countries alone (Iraq and Afghanistan) I could probably make a book!! It is no wonder then that the British public and elsewhere haven’t got any idea what our troops do , why they fight, and what they have been doing as regards any humanitarian missions they have been on, the public haven’t been publicly told !! The reason being it isn’t on the Media’s agenda as they are anti-war/anti-USA and so you get only the stories that are about bombs/body bags etc.. Wouldn’t it be great if every news outlet had to show one a story coming out of these countries that didn’t involve bombs or body counts and showed humanitarian missions that the soldiers have been on, it would show that there is progress in these countries now matter how fragile and perhaps people would realise just how good our soldiers are and feel proud of what they do. I’m sure that a lot of people who don’t know any different or who don’t have access to computers wouldn’t realise how much effort that is going into Iraq and Afghanistan, so much effort with the building of schools, hospitals, infrastructure and on the Political no matter how difficult, it is being done.

I have seen on the internet stories from our troops and others (USA) of them helping out people in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has made me feel very proud of them, some of the stories have even made me cry, they are so powerful. I have also read horrendous stories about the enemy and seen on the TV what the enemy can do as we all have, what I can’t figure out is why is there a certain part of the population in our country and around the world that can’t see the difference between decent troops and the wicked enemy we face, they see our enemy as freedom fighters !! What am I missing something here !!!

It is about time that people really woke up and worked out who the real enemy is because make no bones about it, the enemy is trying it’s hardest to worm it’s way into our society, slowly , slowly it is trying. Over the last few months it seems to have got worse with the Media continually spewing out their anti-war/anti-USA message, plus any anti-soldier story whether it is to do with a soldier that MAY have abused someone, before long it is a fact !! or a stray bomb that has gone off and accidentally killed some civilians , the Media make out they must have done it on purpose how careless of them, you know and I know how careful they are and to much danger to themselves have protected the civilians, unlike the enemy who use the civilians as human shields.

I was hoping with the 5th year of the Iraq war that the Media would have actually shown the progress in that country, along of course with all that has gone wrong etc, I really thought they would, but no. Since the surge that was implemented last year there has been amazing amount of progress, truly amazing not only in buildings, but also the strong courage of the Iraqi people in fighting against Bin laden’s followers /extremists , I only hope that one day when we have Bin Laden’s followers on our streets here in UK fighting us we are not going to fold up and appease them. With the US Presidential elections and our Mr Brown in charge who knows what the thinking will be as regards these terrorists, but I only hope that there is a strong horse somewhere because boy oh boy are we going to need it. The very same people who are ashamed of our troops and abuse them, who haven’t got any respect for them because of what they perceive to be Bush/Blair wars will really want their help one day.

I still do wish though our Tony was still PM he knew exactly what was going on and who the enemy are, what they were called and what the fight we are fighting is called, Mr Brown doesn’t or rather doesn’t want to acknowledge it for fear of having to make decisions what to do about it. Yesterday Gordon Brown came out with a statement on how to deal with Terrorism, Global Warming, floods and Pandemics, according to him Terrorism isn’t that high on the list even though there are 30 plots under watch at the moment along with 2,000 people !!! All these things listed above are of course important, very important, but to say that Terrorism isn’t that high on your list I believe only emboldens the enemy.

I only hope that who ever gets into the White House truly understands the fight we are in because if they don’t we are in an awful lot of trouble. I also hope that as regards Afghanistan Nato will get more troops to help out with the fighting in the south and not just leave it to us US,Canadians,Dutch and the Danes. It would appear on the surface that the French just may put some of their troops in the fight, you never know it just might happen and then perhaps Germany might follow!!

Anyway, I have said my bit for now, sorry about the long story.

Finally, Yes our troops are the best and we thank them !!

Shaz
Stan Says:
March 20, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Reply
I entirely agree with the above sentiments, particularly regarding the insidious and perfidious role of the media. I have blogged a piece for Progress Magazine along the same lines. It can be accessed here http://theprogressive.typepad.com/the_progressive/2008/03/yes-but-what-di.html .
Arlene Says:
March 20, 2008 at 5:53 pm | Reply
Ah dear Shaz,
Every word you said to describe the media et al, is exactly the same here in the states. You and I know what our troops are doing and achieving. We know their valor and their commitment. We also know the reason we are in the sandbox. (That’s what our troops call it).
Today the media played a new message from Bin Laden. The message mentions Tony Blair, of course. Every time Bin Laden mentions my president or your PM, it is a genuine compliment for both of them. Oh, YESSSS! It means that certain world leaders like ours (unlike the anti-war crowd and media) have gotten under Bin Laden’s skin. Yes indeedie!
I believe that Bin Laden is the one who has brought Islam itself under scrutiny in the world and it is HIS fault that the Danes reprinted the prophet cartoons. He is the one who opened Pandora’s Box and now he is reaping his just reward! If only he were a brave man and would come out into the open instead of creeping around on his belly.
The anti-war crowds here (masqerading as peace activists) are acting just like they did during Vietnam. “Peace Activists”, throwing rocks through Recruitment offices and setting off pipe bombs. Now that’s irony isn’t it? It’s pitiful really. It’s almost as if they are under some kind of influence. Hmmm.
Well, at any rate I know there are more of the “you and I” types than there is of the “me, me, me” types. There HAS to be Shaz. Otherwise who is going to take care of the “me” types? Poor things.
I’ve read about the 4 Rifles. Awsome branch!!!!! I sincerely hope that
our friend KTBPM will tell us a little about the Royal Colonel for the 4 Rifles.
Right?
When you watch the video “Amarillo”, it is hilarious! It shows how versatile a warrior can be! Shooting one day and the next, a bunch of standup comedians! I cannot tell the difference between the Brits and the American soldiers. They are all brothers. They are all sisters!
God Bless our Troops
keeptonyblairforpm Says:
March 20, 2008 at 6:52 pm | Reply
My dear Arlene, Shaz and Stan,

You all feel like friends to me.

Thank you so for your comments. All very welcome and very true.

Stan – great article at Progress. Can I use it here, linking back to your Progress site, of course?

Shaz – perhaps you can send us a few links to the positive news blogs on Iraq? I have a few but I wouldn’t mind seeing some new ones. Then I can make a post called The Good News on Iraq OR – ‘what the papers didn’t want you to know’ ;0)

The BBC news is struggling today. On the Radio 4 news they are having to admit that the American surge has made a BIG difference. Must be pretty painful for them, but to be fair to the broadcasters, their reports are nowhere like as jaundiced as those of our newspapers.

BBC 2’s Newsnight’s “Countdown to War” mini series has been broadcast here for the last ten days. Jeremy Paxman has tried to be as non-committal as possible (for him), but it clearly has all been tackled from the standpoint that Iraq was all a mistake/under false pretences/badly judged and planned/forced on us under a tissue of lies … etc.

The 4 Rifles:

This is a link to their move to Basra airport in September.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/4RiflesReflectOnBasraPalaceExperience.htm

The Royal Colonel, Arlene? Well I think you know her better than I do, since she has contacted you over your generous gifts to our boys and girls.

Here’s a quick link reporting on the Duchess of Cornwall’s awarding of medals to 4th Battalion, the Rifles in December.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=502271&in_page_id=1770

The Telegraph certainly seems to support our troops better than any other British newspaper.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/15/nrarmy115.xml

You know, I don’t think people do feel as anti the troops as they have been painted. Their “anti” -ness has been grabbed on by those against the Iraq invasion as another stick with which to beat the previous PM. (The “we’re turning against ‘our boys’ because of HIM” stuff.)

I suppose it’s hardly surprising. They must be getting desperate. Every time they thump him, he just keeps getting back up again. Every time!

And yes, Arlene, that’s exactly what I thought when I heard the bin-Laden stuff. Still on about Blair. He must really have them worried. I thought Brown was the Prime Minister of our great country now?!
Arlene Says:
March 20, 2008 at 8:39 pm | Reply
My dear KTBPM, Stan, Shaz
As for me, I feel a very deep friendship here. This is a very special place.
I believe Shaz had it right when he said the media should be forced or coherced into printing a positive news item if they think it’s necessary for them to print the negative. My GOD, our troops are doing so much more than fighting! They are ambassadors, teachers, liaisons and so much more. I believe you had it right when you said that bin laden keeps picking on Tony Blair when he’s not even the PM anymore. The second point you make is that there isn’t as many of the anti-war groups as the media would have us believe. The media seems to be owned by Anti-American, Anti-British people and money is their power. Perhaps we need a new plan. We should start an international newspaper; we could call it The World Truth in News or some such thing. On second thought, it’s easier and cheaper for me to pass on the web address of THIS site. I have included your address in the parcel I sent to Iraq on March 17. We shall see if we are honored by any comments from the troops. Wouldn’t that be nice?! I mentioned the Royal Colonel only because the troops want us to get the word out about her support. I never ever in a million years expected Her Royal Highness to send me a “Thank you” note for supporting the troops. I did send HER a Xmas card to thank HER for supporting the troops! You wouldn’t believe the audacity of what I said! I told her that in supporting all of our troops, she and I are “kindred spirits”. Yes, I said that in the letter! Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected a letter in return. The letter was sent in a special envelope marked Royal Mail and I had to go to the post to pick it up. She signed it in her own hand. Now, I feel a very close connection to her. How does one tell someone that you have a friend that happens to be a Princess? I have since learned that no matter what the station in life, in Britain, good manners shall prevail!!! Big time!!! I so admire you for that. That’s not to say we don’t have good manners over here, but it’s just not the same!
I apologize for being so wordy. It’s Shaz’s fault.
Forever friends,
Arlene
keeptonyblairforpm Says:
March 20, 2008 at 9:57 pm | Reply
I love ‘wordy’, Arlene, especially when it makes such sense.

One of the most irritating things about the naysayers is this kind of STUPID statement:

“Bush and Blair are war criminals. End of”.

Such erudite exponents of the art of argument and of the English language are BLOODY FOOLS! And it doesn’t matter if they hold their anti-Iraq invasion opinions honestly, the arguments are more complex than that kind of dismissal. I expect their brains don’t do “complex”.

Such as Geek Lawyer, imho, USE this emotional language of “deaths of women and children” to rouse the gullible and the anti-Blairs to GL’s cause. If only they realised it’s personal bile and envy that drives Geek Lawyer.

He, if his webpod with Charon is anything to go by, seems not to even LIKE children. He says he is single and seems to hold women in deep contempt (which you will notice if you can stand reading his blog [yes, it’s up again!])

So, when it comes to working out who is good and honest and who is inclined to twisted one-liners, it’s a no-brainer, as you say in your country, Arlene.

So keep it wordy, sweetheart!

Please send me any urls you have to sites I can write about here on the troops. And thanks for forwarding my website info to our troops.

Btw, when I said “our troops were the bravest and the best” I wasn’t being nationalistic. I rate ALL western troops, including the Americans, of course, in the same bracket. As for some EU countries – their LEADERS seriously want to sort themselves out, especially now with bin Laden threatening Denmark and Holland again. In the end when Iraq is a beacon of civilisation in the Middle East and terrorism has been relegated, we know who can hold our heads up high.

Many thanks.

P.S. I’m watching the 10:00pm news, while writing, and the BBC is at it again! After introducing the top headline – the Iraqi Prime Minister says that security is still a problem and there are still deep concerns for the people of the country type of stuff – having got the sexy headline over, they transferred to a reporter in Fallujah who showed us businesses up and running, children playing and people dancing in the streets. Life was much, MUCH better!

I suppose that’s what THE BEEB calls balance!
Arlene Says:
March 20, 2008 at 11:37 pm | Reply
I just got this off of FOX News. Here’s a man who speaks for the Geek et al. It’s Usama, of course! He tells us in the simplest and PUREST of terms; WHY WE ARE IN IRAQ. This is from the latest tape (yet to be confirmed).

“The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field,” bin Laden said.

“We tell our brothers in Palestine who could not join the jihad in the land of Al-Quds, to get rid of illusions of political parties and groups which are mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy and to take their positions among the ranks of the mujahideen in Iraq,” he said.

So repeat after me, WHY ARE WE IN IRAQ? WHY DID WE GO THERE?
Now, if you still can’t figure out WHY, read the above quote over and over again and again until it sinks in.
This is why you cannot support the troops without supporting the MISSION.
Our troops KNOW why they are there. They KNOW why they fight!
That is why I SUPPORT my troops and I SUPPORT the mission.
God Bless the troops.
Arlene
Arlene Says:
March 20, 2008 at 11:40 pm | Reply
Whoops, here’s the site
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340016,00.html
shaz Says:
March 21, 2008 at 7:45 am | Reply
Hi KTBFPM !!!

Following your request for good news stories coming out of Iraq etc I have been busy !! I have lots of you tube video clips, websites to give you, lots. I realise that I don’t have your e-mail address and so can’t forward them on, please would you send me your e-mail address and I will gladly send them. You can then look through them, see what you think and then add them onto your site if you wish.

Thanks Shaz

Tony Blair