Liverpool FC Forum

[Bam]

My first post was about the serviceman who did things like opening fire and randomly shooting into a crowd watching a football game in Dublin, killing 16 people.

Random shooting in India killing hundreds (or was it thousands) of unarmed protestors.


I think todays British soldiers are honourable and I have total respect for them.

British soldiers did that ?

Probably.

I worked with an Aussie guy who went to Afghanistan. Now considering the Aussie's see us as a kind of rival (sporting wise) and have pretty high opinions of themselves.

I asked my mate what he thought of the British soldiers, expecting to hear the old 'Whinging Pom' thing and all that. He spoke very highly of them to my surprise and thats saying something coming from an Aussie. He said they were very good soldiers, he also said the Aussies were to. I dont doubt that either.

Then I asked him about the American soliders and he smiled and said ........ " They have all the gear but no idea" 

why is it a surprise that he spoke highly of them ? British Military have been working to a high standard for years working with poor equipment - out of date etc . we are now only getting stuff the yanks have been using for over ten years .

And as for this shooting in Dublin ? Is it all confirmed and when did it happen ?

To get a compliment off an Aussie (being a Pom) is almost as rare as rocking horse s.hit. 

[tubby]

PS In anyone hasnt seen it Band of Brothers is showing again on BBC. I think it's on Monday or Tuesday nights at 23:00. Cracking show!

[Sabre]

My first post was about the serviceman who did things like opening fire and randomly shooting into a crowd watching a football game in Dublin, killing 16 people.

Random shooting in India killing hundreds (or was it thousands) of unarmed protestors.


I think todays British soldiers are honourable and I have total respect for them.

British soldiers did that ?

Yes.

Don't get me wrong, I don't wish to portray modern day Britain as bad, as I like it, my issue is with the old colonial Britain.

We cannot judge ancient soldiers with parameters of the XXI century mate.

There's an English cemetery in a mountain of my town, where there's a castle. There you can see plaques of the Smiths, Browns, and dozens of english that perished in my town while they liberated it from the french.

The liberation implied the burning of my town  burning, which I guess, would be unacceptable by nowadays military standards.

Where those english soldiers who perished bad people? No, and that's why we have plaques and a cemetery for them. They were fulfilling orders. The primary mission? fight alongside the Spanish to liberate San Sebastian from the French. The secondary mission? burn a port that had rivalries commercially with the Southampton port.

These things, pillages, and burnings were part of the ancient wars, and we cannot judge them by nowadays standards.

The irish problem is more recent (I mean the latest military conflicts, not the problem), but hopefully one day too those wounds will be healed aswell.

[JamCar05]

PS In anyone hasnt seen it Band of Brothers is showing again on BBC. I think it's on Monday or Tuesday nights at 23:00. Cracking show!

Excellent show that. Got it on DVD and it's definitely one of my favourite shows ever. Love the way it's filmed with shaken camera during some of the war scenes etc.

[Big Niall]

wikidpedia again.

Bloody Sunday was a day of violence on 21 November 1920 in Dublin, during the Irish War of Independence (1919 - 1921), which led to the deaths of more than 30 people.

The day began with the killing of fourteen of eighteen British agents of the Cairo Gang, or their informants, by the Irish Republican Army. Later that afternoon, British forces opened fire on the crowd at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park in north Dublin, killing 14 civilians. That same evening there were scattered shootings in the city streets, and three Irish prisoners in Dublin Castle were killed by their British captors under suspicious circumstances.

Not the IRA in 1920 were NOT like the terrorist organisation that later claimed the letters and thought killing innocents was okay. I would also have no problem with the british at the time killing Irish soldiers, but football fans randomly?

[GYBS]

So basically theye were just as bad as each other overall and the british soldiers just went a bit too far.

[Big Niall]

soldiers can kill soldiers but firing randomly into a crowd is more than "going a bit too fire". This was just one example, they did something similar in the early 1970s at a civil rights march.

Men like that don't deserve a minutes silence.

The British soldiers today would not do such a thing and I have total respect for them.

[GYBS]

It happens on both side thou mate - Civillains shoot or bomb other civilians as has happened a lot in Northern Ireland . Neither deserve respect - but the civilians have a choice mate the ordinary soldier follows orders.

[tubby]

PS In anyone hasnt seen it Band of Brothers is showing again on BBC. I think it's on Monday or Tuesday nights at 23:00. Cracking show!

Excellent show that. Got it on DVD and it's definitely one of my favourite shows ever. Love the way it's filmed with shaken camera during some of the war scenes etc.

Yeah I got it on DVD too but ive lost one of the discs so im tempted to just buy it again haha. It's only £.99 on play compared to like £45 when I bought it.

[Leonmc0708]

Some of the disgraceful" fans do some really good work for the HJC - more than loads on here - and this should be remembered.

Celtic Rangers is more than just football, it crosses many lines of religion, borders and sectarianism.

[GYBS]

And for that bit they are commended mate but doesnt excuse them for this action.

[Big Niall]

It happens on both side thou mate - Civillains shoot or bomb other civilians as has happened a lot in Northern Ireland . Neither deserve respect - but the civilians have a choice mate the ordinary soldier follows orders.

civilians who kill civilians because of their religion or national identity are rightly called terrorists. However when a country's army does it (on a few occasions) and the command to do so goes right up the chain, then the soliers involved cannot be held in high regard. I would refuse such an order.

I am just trying to explain why some people mightn't respect SOME of the soldiers who served.

[GYBS]

Back in those days what do you think would of happened if you refuse an order ? these days you get charged , fined , slammed in jail - those days you were shot for treason.

[Big Niall]

Below is a cut and paste from wikidpedia of a former British army major's comments on a time in the 1970s when the British soldiers shot randomly into a crowd. Do you respect these soldiers (use search  on google - blood sunday derry, if you want to read the full story)




The city's coroner, retired British army Major Hubert O'Neill, issued a statement on 21 August 1973, at the completion of the inquest into the people killed.[29] He declared:

“ This Sunday became known as Bloody Sunday and bloody it was. It was quite unnecessary. It strikes me that the Army ran amok that day and shot without thinking what they were doing. They were shooting innocent people. These people may have been taking part in a march that was banned but that does not justify the troops coming in and firing live rounds indiscriminately. I would say without hesitation that it was sheer, unadulterated murder. It was murder.

over a hundred rounds were fired directly into the fleeing crowds by troops under the command of Major Ted Loden. Twelve more were killed[21], many of them as they attempted to aid the fallen. Fourteen others were wounded, twelve by shots from the soldiers and two knocked down by armoured personnel carriers.

[IstanBuL-FenerBaHce]

I'm far away from the topic what you talk about...

But in that forum, i always back that Big Niall up