Don't you F****** dare try to put the British army alongside the evil bastards that were the IRA!! These 'people' set off bombs, murdered thousands, caused terror and unrest that still lasts today. The British army were asked to come into Northern Ireland by the catholic population, and then changed their minds and started hunting them. Young men cut down in their prime and taken far too soon because of their f****** ideal of a united Ireland. Never mind the fact that the majority of the people were British and wanted to remain so (and still do).
Occupy a country and you take the risks that come with that. Tough shit.
And it wasn't that the Catholics begged the Brits to send troops-- it was that your country was forced to send troops because your country's colonist proxy forces (RUC et al) had gotten out of control, and it was making your government look bad in the international community.
Typical bloody american response when it comes to Ireland and Ulster, the poor downtrodden Irish set upon by the big, bad British!
Ulster is Ireland. They are not separate countries just because your country decided to colonize that part of Ireland with Scottish Protestants.
It was war for F's sake!!
Same excuse the IRA used.
Look at the THOUSANDS of innocents who were bombed, maimed and tortured by the IRA and by muslims terrorists today.
Look at the MILLIONS murdered, tortured, beaten and imprisoned by the British Empire over the years in your country's wars of aggression, conquest and occupation. FUCK the British Empire.
In an ideal world there would be no wars and no need for armies, but unfortunately we don't, and I sleep better in my bed knowing that there are those out there who will defend this country to the death, if need be.
You don't necessarily need a large, professional active-duty army to do that. Switzerland has the right idea-- a militia system where EVERYONE is expected to defend the country to the death. That's how my country used to be too until our ruling class decided we needed to be the next British Empire.
And I certainly wont sit idly by and keep silent while there are those who would slander the name of those who will defend this land.
1. If you think the British military's primary role is to defend Great Britain, then you are hopelessly deluded. Not sure what invading India back in the day or invading Iraq more recently had to do with defending your country.
2. I'm not slandering individual soldiers. Soldiers do what soldiers do, whether they be in the British Army, the US Army, or the Irish Republican Army. My ma was a solider, my grandpa, and my great-grandpa, and I was going to be until I got arrested and convicted of a crime. Just trying to say that your dichotomy of "British Army good, IRA bad" is bullshit, and at least the IRA's only goal was to liberate their country, whereas the role of the British Army from (at least) the 17th century onwards has been to keep other people under the yoke of the British Empire.
Topic: 7/7 bombings - Anniversary