Policing the world

Written by: Sandrea

I believe that in a civilised society the ‘strong should protect the weak’.  However, where do we draw the lines on that statement.

I am a mother of two boys and the thought that my boys could end up in any of the arm forces is scaring the hell out of me.  I respect all the member of the arm forces and believe that the job they do, albeit under stressful circumstances is a credit to them.

I cannot imagine how any parent/s feel when they are told that there sons are daughters are killed in some remote hell hole part of the world, because they are there protecting the lives of the people in that country.  How much longer can we sit back and watch our children die all in the name of policing the world.  Granted that the government are telling us that their arm forces stationed in faraway places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the other places that these men and women are, they are there, not only to protect the citizens of those country but ours as well because of terrorism.

Human cost.

The human cost of policing the these places are, in my humble opinion, far too great.  I look at the stats regarding the deaths and to my great astonishment I found that in terms of the US over 4,379 arm forces members are dead, a staggering 31,693 wounded and more than 26,654 had some kind of diseases or other health issues.  The coalitions forces including the UK lost 3,662 people, and over 136 journalist killed.  Until you see these figures in black and white you are unaware of the magnitude of the problem.

I cannot help but wonder, now having see those figures, is the price of policing the world worth it?  At this moment in time I would say a resounding NO. What have we achieved?  These countries that our young people are dying for are still the same I  personally cannot see THAT the fall of Saddam Hussein or the Taliban’s have made the lives of the ordinary citizens of both country any better.

So-called insurgents are still, not only killing their own people, but they seems to be taking great pride in killing members of the arms forces that are there to protect the people.  My heart bleeds everyday I see it in the news that another young man is killed by a bomb attack, sniper shot, or transportation accident.  I am sure that these young men and women are proud to serve their respective countries and for that we have to give them the credit they deserve, but what about the parent who are left behind?  How do they cope when their children are murdered.

There have to be another way to help the troubled regions of the planet without the lost of so much lives.

Democracy is one thing and something that we in western society somehow take for granted.  However, regardless of that I still believe that too much lives are being lost in order for the west to bring democracy to these remote regions of the world.  Considering that not only are we dealing with century old bigoted ideas, but the religious aspects as well and this seems to be at the fore-front of bad behaviour in these places.

I remember how joyful the Iraqies where when they were liberated from Sadam, but it did not take long for certain idiotic sections of that community  to start killing the very people who helped to liberate them.  That kind of standards that they have is always going to make it difficult for our arm forces to effectively protect the ordinary people.  Because of that, I am of the opinion that we have lost too much lives and it is time we take our people away from those countries –   let the people of those countries get on with it.

We are quite capable of looking after ourselves if, and when, any kind of terrorist try to dictate our way of life.  I do not want to see or hear of any more of our young people dying, enough is enough.  Time to call it a day – That is my gripe on this day, you may or may not agree with me – well what’s the heck.