John Pilger - How Britain wages war - TruePublica
John Pilger – How Britain wages war
Every weekend we feature an article written, with kind permission, by highly acclaimed film-maker, author and journalist John Pilger
who, with such foresight encapsulates how our world is being shaped by
corporations, corrupted political systems, propaganda, globalisation and
war. This piece was written originally July 2008 and is just as
applicable today, if not more so.
Five photographs together break a silence. The first is of a former
Gurkha regimental sergeant major, Tul Bahadur Pun, aged 87. He sits in a
wheelchair outside 10 Downing Street. He holds a board full of medals,
including the Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery, which he
won serving in the British army.
He has been refused entry to Britain and treatment for a serious
heart ailment by the National Health Service: outrages rescinded only
after a public campaign. On 25 June, he came to Downing Street to hand
his Victoria Cross back to the Prime Minister, but Gordon Brown refused
to see him.
The second photograph is of a 12-year-old boy, one of three children.
They are Kuchis, nomads of Afghanistan. They have been hit by Nato
bombs, American or British, and nurses are trying to peel away their
roasted skin with tweezers. On the night of 10 June, Nato planes struck
again, killing at least 30 civilians in a single village: children,
women, schoolteachers, students. On 4 July, another 22 civilians died
like this. All, including the roasted children, are described as
“militants” or “suspected Taliban”. The Defence Secretary, Des Browne,
says the invasion of Afghan istan is “the noble cause of the 21st
century”.
The third photograph is of a computer-generated aircraft carrier not
yet built, one of two of the biggest ships ever ordered for the Royal
Navy. The £4bn contract is shared by BAE Systems, whose sale of 72
fighter jets to a corrupt tyranny in the Middle East has made Britain
the biggest arms merchant on earth, selling mostly to oppressive regimes
in poor countries. At a time of economic crisis, Browne describes the
carriers as “an affordable expenditure”.
The fourth photograph is of a young British soldier, Gavin Williams,
who was “beasted” to death by three non-commissioned officers. This
“informal summary punishment”, which sent his body temperature to more
than 41 degrees, was intended to “humiliate, push to the limit and
hurt”. The torture was described in court as a fact of army life.
