Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(October 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Readers letters.
John writes from Canada:
In reference to your September 2003 news letter where
you requested readers responses, I would like to offer
the following comments and observations:
 It must be noted that the groups you mentioned as terrorists
organizations of years gone by, (which were eventually
defeated by the will of the people), were really organized
national groups or armies and very different from the
current day guerrilla terrorism which is a twentieth
century phenomenon that has occurred in such places as
Palestine, Malaysia (*), Indonesia, Central and South
America, the Balkans, Ireland, and now Iraq, and has
yet to be defeated. There really is no ultimate defence
against such attacks, and one must be prepared to accept
as little collateral damage as possible from these dastardly
attacks whilst at the same time continuing to be fully
prepared to forestall and withstand future attacks and
apprehend the perpetrators prior to the act if that is
possible.
(*) I can only think of one instance of terrorism being defeated and that was
Malaysia where the Malays, assisted by the British, defeated gangs of Chinese
migrants who were terrorizing the people of Malay.
With respect to your comments on Weapons of Mass Destruction,
(WMDs), I would suggest that the talk about the usage
of WMDs has been overdone. The American Administration,
and maybe to some extent certain members of the British
Government, played them up as an excuse to invade Iraq.
Certainly there are weapons of mass destruction out there
and many nations have that capability, but one must remember
that only one nation has used such a weapon, and in recent
years only one nation, North Korea, has threatened to
use such a weapon if America maintains its threat to
set foot upon their soil.
 Regarding Mr. Bush's lack lustre speech. The man is
certainly no public orator and no matter what his speech
writers provide him it comes over as being awfully dull.
It amuses me that Mr. Bush, formerly stated categorically
that Iraq was a United States affair and that the United
Nations had no part in it.
Now he has to eat crow and ask for military and financial assistance from the
United Nations.
Have you ever noticed that when all is going well all the praise goes to the
American troops and when things go terribly wrong the problem is said to be
a Coalition decision?
Your question, "Why are the British troops having what
appears to be a relatively easier task in controlling
the people of Southern Iraq than the Americans are having
in the Baghdad area?" I would suggest that some of the
major reasons that the British troops appear to be coping
better than their American counterparts is that they
are better trained, better disciplined, and above all
have many years experience in handling this type of situation,
which the American Forces do not to have, and therefore
this gives the British troops a distinct advantage.
My Comments:
 Having served with British Forces myself for a number of years I must say that
I'm inclined to agree with the remarks made by this Senior British Military
Warrant Officer, (Retired), that the British troops are exceedingly well
trained, have exemplary in-bred discipline, and also possess the experience
necessary for this type of operation - well they did have during my tour
of duty with them.
Of course one must make allowances for the different locations that the two
members of the Coalition are serving in.
The September Eleventh terrorist action. Americans naively
think that because they were attacked for the first time
on American soil by terrorists that the world owes them
remembrance and sympathy - yes, we certainly haven't
forgotten the 3000 people killed by the terrorist action
and we mourn for them, but at the same time we also ask
if Americans have any sympathy for the estimated 6000
innocent Iraqi civilians who were killed during the destruction
of their cities by American bombing. Then there are the
cases of the "millions" of people slaughtered in
the African Nations, such as Rwanda, Nigeria, Liberia,
etc.
 John's final comment. Hatred against America and its
people has been created in the main by their own arrogance
towards any country outside their shores, and in particular
their lack of action to assist Third World countries
to fight terrorism. What would appear to most Americans
as proud statements of their affluent way of life are
seen with envy by the poverty stricken people of this
world as boastful arrogance.
The United States has portrayed itself by its actions,
as wanting to be the policemen of this world, but it
has been made quite apparent during recent events in
Iraq that they do not have the fortitude, stamina, financial,
and military means at their disposal to conduct such
a role without the support from other leading Nations
of this world.
My Comments:
John and I have corresponded intermittently for some time since he started
to read my news letters. He had a distinguished military career during his
twenty years of service with the British Armed Forces, and fought in many
actions abroad in efforts by the British Government to establish peace and
stability in many countries throughout this world. I therefore defer to his
expertise, knowledge and military seniority, and refuse to offer any comments
which may be construed as criticism, as I am only too pleased that he provided
feedback, (without fear or favour), which is so essential to subjects that
I write about in the news letters.
Note: I have made certain slight modifications to the content
of his original letter in order to stay within the guidelines
of my own self imposed policies, but have not strayed one
iota from the writer's original intent.
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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