In talk recently with a professional colleague to whom I was recommending the merits and common sense of the policies set out in the United Kingdom Independence Party Manifesto 2005, the subject, Iraq, arose and we exchanged views on the presence of British troops in Basra and the south of the country.

We lamented the latest attack on one of our troop carriers in which men were killed and injured, some critically. We wondered how much longer the citizens of this country would tolerate the losses our forces are expected to endure considering the increasing casualty rate, which is presented to us day by day in the newspapers.

No one doubts the costly efforts that have been made to rebuild a country devastated by the exigencies of war. My colleague agreed that huge sums of money have been spent by Britain and the United States in reconstruction; and with Iraqi Government in place in Baghdad one would think that the Iraqi people, having been ravaged by war, would be able to see the attempts being made to replace destruction with construction. Strangely this does not seem to be the case.

We read in the newspapers of suicide bombers blowing themselves up in the market place, in cafes and in mosques; and of the devastation and loss of innocent life that they cause. We read of car bombings, of rocket attacks, of kidnappings, of torture and mayhem. It would seem that martyrdom and mass murder are high on the list of Iraqi reprisals. Sunni adherents kill Shia and Shia kill Sunni. Not long ago there was a report of Shia gangs attacking and killing other Shia groups in Basra for reasons that do not seem to make sense to the Western mind.

Another report recently spoke of the Lebanese army fighting Palestinians in the Lebanon; Israel fighting the Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas fighting Fatah in Gaza - in other words Palestinians fighting Palestinians! Fighting, conflict, making war, killing, shooting, martyrdom seems to dominate the mind and the outlook of a large number of these Eastern peoples.
If these peoples are warriors who for tribal or religious reasons make war on one another — it is astonishing how many of them, poor or otherwise, carry weapons and seemingly hundreds of rounds of ammunition — then the presence of British soldiers in the south and the presence of American forces in the north would seem to be not only superfluous but transparently bordering on supererogation!

Whether the political leaders who went to war in Iraq in 2003 to remove Saddam Hussein from power were fully aware of the inherent, inbuilt tribal and religious inclinations of a seemingly large number of Iraqi people, and of the killing and murder that would go on once the initial conflict was over, is not known. Certainly it must be known now.

Since so many of the these middle-eastern warriors are intent on the slaughter of innocents in order that they may achieve martyrdom; and since martyrdom seems to be so highly desirable in their eyes that they are prepared to blow hundreds of men, women and children to bits to attain this extraordinary goal, that they may be embraced by a never-ending supply of paradisical maidens, then only Allah, it would seem, is likely to know when this evil trend is going to cease.

Having briefly considered the scourge of martyrdom among these peoples, reason suggests that the presence of foreign troops in their country may not even have been a catalyst! Attacks on foreign troops would be a logical outcome resulting from invasion; suicidal attacks on innocent civilians for religious or tribal reasons would appear to be an endemic problem that no military presence can posssibly solve or ameliorate! Bring these foreign troops home - immediately! Give the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi people an opportunity to resolve their own problems and differences. British and American troops have done enough. As Lord Nelson said at Trafalgar before he died: “Thank God I have done my duty!” I submit that all our troops have done their duty to the utmost! I further submit that they cannot resolve a religious conflict which defies understanding by the Western mind!
John Henry Pool
South Thanet Branch,
United Kingdom Independence Party