Words Words Words

I've been looking for this for a long time now, well, not really actively looking but my interest was piqued when I read somewhere that a copy of this speech was framed and put up in the Oval Office by G.W. and it's been on my "look out" for list for a bit. This speech was given by one Lt. Col. Tim Collins to his men, the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment on the eve of Operation Telic, the British codename for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, them Brits are a little more understated when it comes to naming their Ops. Apparently it was completely off the cuff. I'd give my right arm to conjour up stuff like this.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.

If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves.

It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.

The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity.

It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the Mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.

The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please.

If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation.

[Regarding the use by Saddam of chemical or biological weapons] It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack.

As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there.

Our business now is north."

Copyright Tim Collins, 2003

That was me, ugh.

Some of my 2005 posts are cringeworthy. I sound so self-righteous and/or mushy my hair stands when I read past entries. But stand they will so my kids can see how silly dad sounded back in the day. It's hard trying to find a voice I'm comfortable with. I can't even decide why this blog exists. It started out as something to document EJ's birth and life but how do I frame my posts? Do I address EJ as you or in the third person? Of course once Number 2 and Number 3 comes along they'll get lumped in. Or do I record some of the world they are growing up in? Seems a waste to just write about them But I can do more, I can write about the world they are growing up in, I can give them a little glimpseI can write about a million things. I can't possibly cover every day and every event that transpires and the inherent bias that is me will shape my output even more so.

Meh, I can't even concentrate long enough to write a coherent piece.

07/07/07! Never to be repeated! Ever! (363 days to 08/08/08!)

Saturday, 07/07/07, a unique date which has manifested itself 6 times already, each time in a slightly different form no less and which will appear 5 more times before we're rid of the damned phenomena came and went. Despite the best efforts of 770+ couples locally and 150 music acts playing to an estimated audience of 2 billion people worldwide the planet grinds ever so remorselessly on it's path to a drop in internal core temperature.

Saturday morning brought with it a good old fashioned tropical thunderstorm, lightning and all. I know this because I had to fetch the wife to work. I imagine it must have played havoc with quite a few schedules and nerves but alas to my disappointment the storm abated after a bit and the rest of the day was pleasantly cool. I had such glorious visions of absolute chaos at the ROM. Dang it. Sidebar article on frontpage of 6th July's edition of ST was a story on the 700 odd couples who would tie the knot the following day and the usual inane examples of how numbers play an altogether too significant part in some people's lives. As for me, I'd just like to give a big shout out and Hello! to Mr. Sparks Ng of SIA! Must not...oh hell, /roflmao. Anyhoo, grats to the 700 odd couples who tied the knot on this very special, very unique day ya? Just you, your special other and 1,400 other people. Sparkingly! Twas probably a good weekend for Durex I'm betting.

Live Earth was the other highlight of the day. Well, for 2 billion other people anyways. Heavily tax households who have more than 1 car, tax vehicles which have big engines, bigger rebates for hybrids, make cycling a safe and viable form of transportation, put out more recycling containers in HDB estates, drop your secondary school going kids outside of the all boys school gate and let them walk in, they'll make it to their classrooms just fine I promise, and that's just in Singapore. I don't need convincing that global warming is real, oil interests and countries like China and India do. The US? Yeah, probably but in a generation what China alone will put out will make the US look like Greenpeace if nothing changes. And on a personal note. Fuck, like wearing green and showing solidarity with other tree-huggers-for-one-day while watching acts who waltzed in courtesy of private jets and police escorted tour buses will change anything. You doing anything different today from last friday on the green front?

Blast from the past

Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

o In an interview with Gilbert in Göring's jail cell during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials (18 April 1946)
Link

Getting up to speed

Okay, so it's been a while, not like anyone missed me or anything. 2 years have gone by in a flash, the missus and I got ourselves a running (oh dear god does she run), jumping and one word blabbering 2 year old on my hands, a far cry from the very passive 3 month old the last time I updated. Never one to be stingy with her smiles and very infectious laughter as we troop into the house after a long day at work. We also have to contend with her temper when she doesn't get what she wants or when it's time for bed.

There are some worries about her language development as the few peers she has that we know of are already quite used to 3 to 4 word mini sentences while she's stuck using one word at a time, on balance, her motor skills seem fairly well developed and she's a great runner and climber so I guess we'll just have to wait and see a little longer. B1 and B2 are back from their overseas stints so the clan is back together again, EJ's grandparents are doing alright too.

Oh, we're expecting Number 2 sometime in November. Heaven help us. Seems like we just barely scratched the surface of getting a handle on EJ and now we got another one on the way to introduce sibling rivalry into the equation, to say nothing of that whole 3 feeds a night crap again.

Anyhoo, EJ's off to pre-nursery come next year. I have to say I was quite hesitant on sending her to school at such a young age when we made the decision earlier this year but as time passed it was made clear to me that we've come to a point where she needs more challenges and stimuli to order to grow and having an environment where there is some semblance of structure and an opportunity to interact with her peers seems like a nifty idea. Did I also mention that EJ's pretty good at repeating the names of objects we point out both in picture books and the real world? Like a parrot. Must stop cursing in the car.