Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(November 2004)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Breaking
News:
 Dateline:
Thursday 14th October 2004, Las Vegas, Nevada.
President Bush avoided attending a meeting of the members of the American Association
of Retired Persons. (AARP), by claiming a pre-arranged commitment to meet
with the Governors of several States in Reno, Nevada, so the AARP meeting
was attended by the President’s wife Mrs. Laura Bush.
Surely Mr. President, the voice of the elderly voters in this day and age in
the decline of the welfare of the aged American senior citizens is more important
than a meeting with a select group of Governors.
Is this one more case of Presidents Bush’s lack of response to the needs
of the aging Americans senior citizens?
On the other hand Senator Kerry was
obviously more responsive as he attended the AARP gathering.
Dateline: Thursday 14th October, 2004, Moscow, Russia.
Russia’s top nuclear authority said today that it had finished construction
of an atomic power plant in Iran, which has been in the building stages since
the early 1990s. Both Moscow and Teheran maintain that Iran’s nuclear
program is to be used for peaceful industrial purposes.
A spokesperson for Russia’s Atomic Energy Agency
stated that all that was now left to do was to negotiate
an agreement with the Iranians as to the method of returning
the spent fuel rods back to Russia as the United States
is concerned that Iran could use the spent nuclear fuel
rods to make nuclear arms. In order to allay the US concerns
Russia has promised not to start up the Bushehr plant,
located in southern Iran, until Teheran guarantees to
return all the spent nuclear fuel back to Russia.
The 1.000-megawatt, $800 million dollar Bushehr plant is due to go on line
next year and reach full capacity in 2006.
Dateline: Friday 15 th October, 2004, Washington D.C.
 It
has been reported that the American Administration, assumedly
the Pentagon under Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld,
has requested that the British government re-deploy some
British troops from the Basra area, north to the Sunni
Triangle in order to release American troops for an unspecified
mission. If I were a British Officer serving in Iraq,
or even a low ranking member of a British Army Unit that
could be re-deployed, I would certainly voice my objections
to being placed under American military command.
It has been suggested that this re-deployment of British
troops could be a political ploy to reduce American casualties
just prior to the Presidential election, in order to bolster
the patriotic spirit of the American soldiers and canvas
military votes from them for their Commander in Chief.
Many years ago, when I came to the United States, it
would never have entered my head that such unethical
tactics would ever be employed and that even the staunchest
dyed in wool politicians would ever condescend to stoop
so low - but unfortunately over the years I have learned
the wicked ways of the political world and have developed
a definite cynicism when it comes to American politicians
and the devious way the minds of those engaged in political
practices work.
Big mistake: (Open letter to Prime Minister
Blair).
I
firmly believe that if the British Government allows
the young British troops currently serving in Iraq
to be re-deployed to the Sunni triangle area of Northern
Iraq to satisfy American demands, that they the British
Government are once again being made pawns of the American
political scene and are being used by the Bush political
machine to support his re-election bid.
Mr. Blair, please come to your senses before it’s too late and stop this
act of subservience to the Bush camp, for it could cause irreparable damage to
the British political system.
May I suggest that if you and your Government make a decision to accede to the
American demands and re-deploy British troops to Northern Iraq, the British public
will surely see this as a gross error of judgement on your part, and the country
will become more divided than it currently is.
 Prime Minister Blair - strong words on my part - but
who better to tell it like it is than an ex-Brit who
lived his first forty one years of life in England, (seven
of those years serving with British Armed Forces, 1942/1949,
in France, Germany, and Palestine), and the last 37 years
of his life in the United States.
I have always believed
in British fair play and integrity, and the British troops
have done exceedingly well in southern Iraq by “leading
by example”, and not kicking down the doors of
civilian homes and terrorizing the local inhabitants.
The British troops have gained much respect and have
a good rapport with the southern Iraqi Shiite population
whereas the heavy handed antagonistic methods employed
by the American troops in the North has caused much friction.
I would hate to see the British troops being placed in
harms way just to satisfy the demands of the American
political system.
I certainly would appreciate responses from the British
readership on this very important subject, and of course
the views of American readers, or whom-so-ever, would
also be very much appreciated. This news letter has always
been intended as an open forum for discussion and every
one is entitled to their own particular opinions on any
subject that I write about, (or for that matter any subject
that I don’t write about), and feedback is always
welcome.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents of these
newsletters. Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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