Okay guys, we all know that the UK and the USA are as good a pair of mates as you'll ever find on the international stage; but do we really have to keep hearing about how the US posesses the finest armed forces in the world? Every time I see a newspaper article or a news interview with some top American brass they slip in the "we've got the best armed orces in the world, bar none!" line. The US air force, army, navy and marines are definatley the most numerous and best funded in the west, but by Christ they aren't the best by a long shot! The British Army are getting three or four times as many casualties inflicted on them by the US than the Iraqis inflict! I was in the Other Ranks Club at Upavon last week and two of the guys who were stationed there from the USAF walked in. As if on cue, every brit in the club dived under their tables shouting........... "Don't shoot! We're British!!!"
During the first Gulf War the US blew up five times as much British material as the Iraqis did and history is repeating itself now. We've just had the pin-point precision air-strike by an A-10 Thunderbolt that wiped out 2 British tanks and most of their crews. Well hey, blue-on-blues (military jargon for friendly fire incidents) are commonplace in war they can't be avoided. But rather frighteningly this A-10 pilot opened up on a Britsh column that a) was carrying Americn-made laser designators so targeting systems wouldn't shoot them b) wearing special black and white markings on their tanks so they could be visually recognised, and c) FLYING THE UNION JACK! On top of all this the pilot would have had to peer through magnification optics to use that chain gun, it was broad daylight and he was (rather unusually for an American pilot) flying at very low level. Let's hope the pilot wasn't as stoned as the one who blew the shit out those Canadian troops last year, eh?
Now before anyone starts thinking that I've gone and turned anti-American or anything, please remember that there are not many Brits who are as big yanko-philes as me. But please nobody fall into the trap of listening to all the propaganda we get our consciousnesses saturated with every second; and believeing it to be proved fact.The biggest example of what I've heard called "newszak" is the New York Post. This paper has deemed it good ethics to use "may, possibly, could, almost, might, maybe and perhaps" in their stories and editorials, because they're not real journalists who actually do any work and find out information, check sources and research. That paper is a laughing stock amongst the journalistic community because it represents the absolute stereotype of tabloidisation and newszak, with nothing of the fourth-estateist ideals of actual writers.
We're in a situation right now, where our boys (and some girls too) are fighting their guts out in the Gulf. Although it's important to support them, fooling ourselves is no support. CNN, ABC and Fox are just as coloured and full of blatant lies as al-Jazeera; just as The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The New York Post are sometimes as full of crap as any arabic, rabble-rousing sheet.
During the first Gulf War the US blew up five times as much British material as the Iraqis did and history is repeating itself now. We've just had the pin-point precision air-strike by an A-10 Thunderbolt that wiped out 2 British tanks and most of their crews. Well hey, blue-on-blues (military jargon for friendly fire incidents) are commonplace in war they can't be avoided. But rather frighteningly this A-10 pilot opened up on a Britsh column that a) was carrying Americn-made laser designators so targeting systems wouldn't shoot them b) wearing special black and white markings on their tanks so they could be visually recognised, and c) FLYING THE UNION JACK! On top of all this the pilot would have had to peer through magnification optics to use that chain gun, it was broad daylight and he was (rather unusually for an American pilot) flying at very low level. Let's hope the pilot wasn't as stoned as the one who blew the shit out those Canadian troops last year, eh?
Now before anyone starts thinking that I've gone and turned anti-American or anything, please remember that there are not many Brits who are as big yanko-philes as me. But please nobody fall into the trap of listening to all the propaganda we get our consciousnesses saturated with every second; and believeing it to be proved fact.The biggest example of what I've heard called "newszak" is the New York Post. This paper has deemed it good ethics to use "may, possibly, could, almost, might, maybe and perhaps" in their stories and editorials, because they're not real journalists who actually do any work and find out information, check sources and research. That paper is a laughing stock amongst the journalistic community because it represents the absolute stereotype of tabloidisation and newszak, with nothing of the fourth-estateist ideals of actual writers.
We're in a situation right now, where our boys (and some girls too) are fighting their guts out in the Gulf. Although it's important to support them, fooling ourselves is no support. CNN, ABC and Fox are just as coloured and full of blatant lies as al-Jazeera; just as The Sun, The Daily Mirror and The New York Post are sometimes as full of crap as any arabic, rabble-rousing sheet.
Yeah I know Indy, but Steve knows more about it than Buggs Bunny knows about carrots. Besides, I don't think he was referring to Monty's win/loss record. (Steve?) I think he was referring to the decline of the Brit blue-on-blue ratio since WW2.
No matter how righteous we think the west might be, our news and media is just as capable of lying to us as theirs is. Which reminds me, I think I'll mount that "paranoia" poster in my sig next time............
