British soldier’s in Iraq -lost vote due to MoD
indifference and usual cock-up.
*
Daily Mail
Friday, April 15, 2005
*
My comrades risked their lives
to bring democracy to Iraq-
Now they are denied the vote
in their own country.
By
Colonel Tim Collins
*
When brave men and women join this country’s Armed
Services, it is in the certain knowledge that one day they may receive orders
that will lead to them laying their lives down for their country.
What
they do NOT expect is that by joining up, they will somehow forfeit the right
to vote for the Government that issues those orders.
This,
however, is quite disgraceful situation in which up to 200,000 servicemen and
women could find themselves following what, at its worst, could be called the
mother of cock-ups by the Ministry of Defence.
The
soldiers who brought democracy to Iraq, who have faithfully spread the message
about the ballot box always being stronger than the bullet or bomb, now face
the supreme irony of finding themselves without a vote in Britain’s own General
Election.
It
is spectacular and shameful own goal which will lead the ordinary serving
soldier overseas not just disenfranchised but bloody angry.
After
all, if anyone has a right to cast a vote on the rightness or wrongness of the
war in Iraq, it is surely the soldiers who were out there fighting it.
And
they are still out there, of course, dodging the bullets and the suicide
bombers and generally ‘keeping the peace’.
This is
the thanks they get.
Not
that you are likely to hear them complaining.
When soldiers join up, the ability to talk to the Press without
permission is just one of the many freedoms they willingly forgo.
They
are subject to military law and are no longer free to do what they like but in
return they expect those freedoms they still enjoy-such as the right to vote-to
be fiercely protected by those above them, which in this case is the Labour
Government. That covenant has now been
shamefully broken.
How
has this happened? Well, the best, or
rather sinister explanation is that it is a mistake by the ever more
incompetent MoD. This is after all the organisation,
which failed to inform me that I had been awarded the OBE until long after I
had been phoned by a relative who had heard it on the radio.
So
I am far from surprised that the four years it has had to adapt to new rules
governing the registration of service voters has not been long enough.
The rules mean that instead
of filling out a ‘one-off’ service voter registration when they first join up,
service personnel now have to re-register in their home constituency every
year.
That
would be fine if you could get the right paperwork to them overseas, but the
MoD apparently could not. As a result, it is estimated
that 80 per cent of service personnel will not have a vote in this election.
For many of the young soldiers serving in Iraq - most of
whom are under 25 - it will have been their first opportunity to vote in the
General Election, to express a democratic view on a decision to go to war that
has cost the lives of 80 of their comrades [with many thousands injured -
some severely]. What a terrible introduction
to democracy.
Some military observers saw the problem coming and
representations were made to Parliament urging the MoD to conduct a campaign
amongst servicemen to urge them to vote.
Eventually in January [2005], leaflets were printed for
distribution to units but none of these was distributed until early March
[2005].
The
deadline for voters to register for the May 5 poll - a date that has been in
the public domain for months - was March 11.
With some units not getting their leaflets until well after the deadline
has passed, the situation has been a disgrace.
At the very least, it
demands an apology and a full explanation, both from the highest levels of the
MoD and Government.
After
all, the British Army is a volunteer army, the social makeup of which reflects
the diverse nation it has drawn from more closely than any army in the
world.
In
the British Army a teenager from a Glasgow council estate really can find
himself serving along side of a duke and as a nation we would be rightly proud
of it.
But we cannot expect to
maintain all the good things that come with having a volunteer army -higher
morale, better discipline, stronger motivation etc - if by joining up, the
prospective soldier sailor or airman knows he is in danger of forfeiting one of
the most basic rights
of citizenship -the right to
vote.
It is an appalling situation, which I am absolutely
certain, would never have been allowed to happen in the United States
Army. There their leaders don’t
Just
preach democracy they make sure their soldiers can practice it too.
Shambles,
cock-up -call it what you will. But I know there are many within the Armed Forces
who see the disenfranchisement of so many service personnel as more sinister
than that. They see deliberate
conspiracy and, frankly who can blame them.
Because
this sudden loss of service voting power doesn’t just coincide with a hugely
controversial war. It also coincides
with the biggest shake-up of the Army for well over a century. Under the proposed changes announced last
year by General Sir Mike Jackson the Army won’t just lose three much needed
battalions but it will also lose its traditional regiments [To fit the
European Army pattern - of course] effectively ending a proven and
successful unit of military organisation that in some cases goes back more than
300 years.
Not
surprisingly, Army personnel, who tend to have fierce loyalty to their
regiment, have strong views on the subject and the 2005 General Election would
have been their first and only chance to vote on changes that will have a
profound impact on their working lives.
The fact that they won’t now get a chance is as undemocratic as it is
unforgivable.
[And all the Government
does is apologise most sincerely -but at the same time chuckling to themselves
of how easy it was to fool the people on so many occasions-and still get away
with it. Well! Many voters would not
take the warnings to heart and are now paying the price.]
Many
believe that there has been a deliberate dragging of Ministerial feet to
deprive service personnel of their vote and I for one cannot say they are
definitely wrong.
What
I can say is that the loss of their vote is but the latest indignity to be
heaped on a British Army whose soldiers and officers have grown accustomed to
longer tours of duty, shorter intervals between tours and equipment that is
either obsolete or doesn’t work.
Well!
Enough is enough
Last
year when I was in the city of Al Quernah, said by some to be the location of
the Garden of Eden, I never imagined, as I extolled the virtues of democracy to
local Iraqi leaders, that they would be voting in 2005 but that many officers
and soldiers of my regiment would not.
Having
left the Army last summer after more than 22 years of service I, however do
have a vote and intend to use it.
Together
with many others who hold the future of Britain’s Armed Forces dear, we must
send the clearest message to Tony Blair on May 5.
As
Alan Sugar so succinctly puts it in his television series, The Apprentice:
‘Tony, you’re fired.
* * *
[Font
altered-bolding &underlining used -comments in brackets]
APRIL/05
STILL
TIME TO RIGHT A WRONG
[Might
we suggest that anyone who had decided previously not to vote at the May 5
General Election -now do so for the disenfranchised servicemen and women who do
not have a vote to make their TRUE feelings felt?
Many ex-serviceman and others who had previously felt that
they would not vote because all politicians are all the same can know see a
very good reason to put their vote where it will hurt the Government - after
all- they are to blame.
As many will say
don’t get angry
- get even!
* * *
APRIL/05
*
*
*
13th October,2007
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The
Queen,
Treason
and the
Coronation
oath
Together
with
Churchill,
King
George
VI saved
our
nation;
he was a
Monarch
to be
proud
of. But
his
daughter
the
Queen is
the only
monarch
to have
broken
all her
coronation
oaths,
by
signing
these
six
treaties
that
abolish
our
common
law, the
British
Constitution,
the
British
and
English
nations,
and our
sovereignty.
She has
also
committed
treason,
together
with
co-signatories
Ted
Heath,
Margaret
Thatcher,
John
Major,
Tony
Blair
and
Gordon
Brown.
Realising
that
under
the five
Treason
Acts
they
should
already
be
hanging
by the
neck
until
dead,
Tony
Blair
and the
Queen
signed
the
Crime
and
Disorder
Act,
1998,
which
secretly
abolished
much of
the
crime of
treason
(s36.3)
and
reduced
the
penalty
to life
imprisonment
- they
didn't
tell the
MP's
what
they had
just
voted
for.
1.4
million
British
Servicemen
gave
their
lives
for our
independence.
The
Queen
has
thrown
their
sacrifices
away and
made
them
worthless.
At
no
physical
risk to
herself,
she
could
have
fulfilled
her oath
and duty
as a
constitutional
check
and
balance,
by
refusing
to sign
the six
treaties
until an
in/out
referendum
had been
held. In
the
unlikely
event
the vote
went
against
her, she
was even
more
unlikely
to lose
her
crown
(not her
life or
a limb),
and
would
keep her
£9
billion
plus
palaces
either
way.
Those
servicemen's
lives
would
still
have
meant
something.
But she
was
always
keen to
sign;
and said
in
advance
she
would
sign the
last
treaty.
Princes
Charles,
William
or Harry
can now
never be
King.
You
can't
have a
King
without
a
Kingdom:
they can
only be
princes
of a
region
(principality)
within
Europe.
King
Edward
8th was
forced
to
abdicate
because
he was
too
overt as
a German
Nazi
supporter.
Mrs
Simpson's
divorce
was
merely
the
excuse.
The
Royal
Family
is a
German
Family -
real
surname
Saxe-Coburg
Gotha.
Windsor
is an
adopted
surname.
All four
of
Prince
Phillip's
sisters
married
high
ranking
German
Nazis.
After
they
lost the
war the
EU was
switched
from a
Nazi
basis to
a
communist
basis.
Between
the ages
of 12
and 22
Queen
Elisabeth's
political
and
constitutional
tutor
was Sir
Henry
Martin,
a Fabian
Communist.
It seems
clear
she was
well
trained
for her
subversion
and
treason.
Because
she
waves
and
smiles
at us
most are
fooled
into
thinking
she's
lovely;
in fact
the
Queen is
a member
of the
Illuminati,
a
Bilderberger,
head of
Freemasonry,
is
wholly
pro the
(German)
EU, and
has
abolished
this
nation
with
ruthless
determination.
It is so
obvious
she
cares
nothing
for
Britain
or the
British.
The
Queen's
aspirations
are not
ours;
she
clearly
serves a
much
darker
master;
the
faith
she
defends
cannot
be the
one we
think it
is. King
George
VI, the
one
recent
monarch
not
indoctrinated
with
Nazi or
Communist
philosophy,
must be
turning
over in
his
grave.
I
ask that
the law
be
enforced,
and the
Queen be
tried
for
treason
before
12
honest
people,
and not
by our
corrupt
judges.
And that
the
illegal
section
36.3
Crime
and
Disorder
Act be
declared
null and
void, so
that she
can hang
by the
neck
till
dead.
The new
EU
Hitler
doesn't
have to
get
elected
Its
worth
noting
that
Adolf
Hitler
first
had to
get
elected,
if on a
35%
minority
vote,
and then
get his
Enabling
Act
passed.
An EU
dictator
has no
such
problems.
Our EU
rulers
do not
submit
themselves
for
election
now. And
the
Queen
has
already
signed
the
Enabling
Act
(Civil
Contingencies
Act
2004).
The EU's
Hitler
will
have a
much
easier
rise to
power,
and will
have the
formerly
British
and
French
nuclear
weapons
from day
one.
Adolf
Hitler
killed
54
million
people.
The EU's
dictator
could
kill a
billion
at the
touch of
a
button,
with no
democratic
checks
and
balances
to
answer
to. How
could
any
aspiring
dictator
resist
the EU
opportunity?
For more
details go to :http://eutruth.org.uk
http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/participants2012.html
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