[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
if you don’t then it’s Michael Fallon
he’s our defense secretary and he is
about to authorize the awarding of
medals to drone pilots to people who sit
in safe boxes in chairs akin to any
gamers might be familiar with and
control predator unmanned aerial
vehicles that fire Hellfire missiles and
kill people on the Queen’s behalf his
desire to award the medals which I’m
almost a hundred percent sure will
happen will be much strengthened by
today’s news that the White Widow am
unfortunate lady from the margins of
society nails but he got sucked into
Isis has been killed this morning by one
of these strikes I was gonna bolster the
picture with the Daily Mail has now gone
live with pictures inside the cabin and
also pictures of the strike a little
gruesome and it will also show now look
at the Daily Mail online
I’m not sure these people deserve medals
I’m not sure these people need medals
they might need some talking therapy
some psychotherapy maybe even a
psychiatrist but medals I think not this
chat general Rupert Jones he’s in charge
of Britain’s anti-isis anti-terror
activity in the Levant widely mainly
Syria obviously and I caught a phrase he
said an interview the other day he said
War is hell war is hell as well as
prisons let’s get rocked out by sort of
macho sword soldiers and I thought to
myself yeah war is hell for the people
of Syria
tragically war is hell for the people of
Isis rightly what war is not how is for
you or any of the people you command
now old soldiers have always always
always complained about how easy the
current wars are we get in the way back
then machine and we say I was tougher
then mainly because our hair was thicker
or waists with thinner and it was
tougher then you know people in the
Falklands would say how easy it was in
Afghanistan people from Korea would have
said how easy the Falklands were because
when world war ii would have said how
easy career was and so on and so on and
so on but I actually think something
really serious is changing now because
when I commissioned in 1997 1997 was a
unique year 1997 was the first year that
a British soldier had not been killed in
action since 1967
General Sir Michael Rose in our speech
pointed this out our parents were there
he pointed out that he felt a lot more
would be dying soon
my mother particularly like that as I
remember but since 1997 British soldiers
have died every year in conflict they
have died in increasing numbers reaching
really a sort of crescendo of 2009 when
nearly 200 British soldiers were killed
in action over account of the year then
something changed 2013
nobody soldier killed 2014 they believe
soldier killed 2015 no British soldier
killed 2016 no British soldier killed
2017 I hope no British soldier killed
but we are still meeting out an enormous
amount of hurt to the enemies of Her
Majesty we are still doing a lot of
killing and this is a paradigm shift
where the risk in war is almost so
non-existent that the warfare has become
so asymmetric that pressing the trigger
is a safe almost risk-free option now
this would appear to be Whiggish
progress but I would moot it’s actually
slightly worrying you think I’d be sick
to say I’m wishing for more of this what
orden so wonderfully called men coming
back and cold hermetically sealed boxes
it’s worrying I think that ordinance had
been increasingly popular now again the
harbinger of the second world war is
being reread more and more in these
years but anyway I’m not saying I want
to see this at more brides Morton more
I’m just observing that the absence of
this while we do so much killing is odd
I think we’ve always accepted this is a
well my favorite ever Private Eye car
seems shocked soldier dies in war I
think we’ve always accepted like the
tango warfare is something that requires
– you know we can’t just have it one way
and that participation as a as somebody
who takes part in war involves sacrifice
but hang on if we can get rid of people
as horrendous as this if we have the
ability to kill such awful agents of
evil without any risk to the stout
yeoman and soon-to-be stout yo women of
this country by means of this or indeed
this in the middle of the night surely
that must be a good thing but I find the
decree of detachment disturbing such
dicks distant we are prepared to
prosecute the ultimate sanction more
readily and with less moral
interrogation than if we had skin in the
game now I think the soldier is unique
everybody has a balance how willing you
are to kill how willing you are to be
killed most people unfortunately we look
deep in our souls would probably be
prepared to take a life before sacrifice
their own except it’s the way we are the
soldier is quite unique every morning he
goes out and the two things are probably
in about equilibrium
chance I might get it today chance I
might have to give it to somebody today
and that that strange balance LEDs that
lends a certain integrity to warfare
which actually prevents the whole thing
coming into a slaughter which I think it
could become if you just do it from an
armchair miles away second piece of
popular culture there may be less
popular than the Game of Thrones
fantastic fantastic Ken Loach film The
Wind That Shakes the barley it’s a
particularly horrific scene
Cillian Murphy on the left there who is
in the IRA during that insurgency
against the British he’s having to kill
this young man on the right the young
man on the right is an informant
he’s known him since he was four years
old but they cannot have informers
undermining the IRA at this stage of the
insurgency silly Murphy like any other
good leader he takes on the
responsibility he’s the one who has to
carry out this execution it’s a deeply
disturbing and moving scene but the bit
that strikes on it for me as he comes
back he turns to one of his fellow other
revolution and easy
and he goes Jesus I hope this island
we’re fighting for is worth it now why I
take that as an example is we as a
society need to be near there needs to
be a proximity to the most visceral
elements of warfare its essentials as
those who experience it can relay it to
those upon whose behalf it is carried
out and constantly constantly questioned
whether the juice is worth the squeeze
you can’t do that from an armchair in
High Wycombe you have to be there the
other reason I choose this is in the
film
Cillian Murphy is it plays a young
doctor or young trainee doctor and he’s
the son of the local doctor and I say it
rather selfishly if we are going to go
and kill people we need to be prepared
to sacrifice sons of GPS from Rutland
that’s what I am NOT a particularly
special soldier not a particularly good
soldier the
accidental the ordinary we must be
prepared to risk them not just those
people who through their the fact we’re
special forces we don’t have to name if
we’re going to get hit doing some of
it’s worthwhile we need to know about
the grief of that family that normal
family who are like us
the final point the myth the myth of the
expert of this and if you can hold your
nose long enough and you dip into the
Daily Mail you will read about this
unbelievable Hellfire missile that
stopped to the traffic like turn left
hit the White Widow goodnight nobody
else hurt it doesn’t work like that to
brief had sex I’ve experienced or other
unfortunately when I was hanging around
fighting with Afghan soldiers and Apache
pilot made a mistake and locked on to us
and basically gave us the whole nine
yards not a single one of us was hurt
its miles away it’s not that accurate
sometimes they latch on to other things
another time we went to attack a
building where we were getting a lot of
stick from we were still getting a
little bit of stick from it the absolute
obvious call was to drop a precision
borne it it was in the middle of nowhere
there was no other collateral damage
something in my water said no we
attacked at the normal way fought
through it in the basement of it 15
women and children tied up because
however accurate that is they can get
cleverer than that and then that’s
collateral damage they that they can use
this stuff is not magic it’s not magic
so my conclusion is the broad sunlit
uplands or the Utopia of war is not a
war where there are no friendly forces
casualty it’s actually no war but if war
there must be civilized nations must be
prepared to risk their blood as well as
their treasure thank you very much for
listening
you
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
if you don’t then it’s Michael Fallon
he’s our defense secretary and he is
about to authorize the awarding of
medals to drone pilots to people who sit
in safe boxes in chairs akin to any
gamers might be familiar with and
control predator unmanned aerial
vehicles that fire Hellfire missiles and
kill people on the Queen’s behalf his
desire to award the medals which I’m
almost a hundred percent sure will
happen will be much strengthened by
today’s news that the White Widow am
unfortunate lady from the margins of
society nails but he got sucked into
Isis has been killed this morning by one
of these strikes I was gonna bolster the
picture with the Daily Mail has now gone
live with pictures inside the cabin and
also pictures of the strike a little
gruesome and it will also show now look
at the Daily Mail online
I’m not sure these people deserve medals
I’m not sure these people need medals
they might need some talking therapy
some psychotherapy maybe even a
psychiatrist but medals I think not this
chat general Rupert Jones he’s in charge
of Britain’s anti-isis anti-terror
activity in the Levant widely mainly
Syria obviously and I caught a phrase he
said an interview the other day he said
War is hell war is hell as well as
prisons let’s get rocked out by sort of
macho sword soldiers and I thought to
myself yeah war is hell for the people
of Syria
tragically war is hell for the people of
Isis rightly what war is not how is for
you or any of the people you command
now old soldiers have always always
always complained about how easy the
current wars are we get in the way back
then machine and we say I was tougher
then mainly because our hair was thicker
or waists with thinner and it was
tougher then you know people in the
Falklands would say how easy it was in
Afghanistan people from Korea would have
said how easy the Falklands were because
when world war ii would have said how
easy career was and so on and so on and
so on but I actually think something
really serious is changing now because
when I commissioned in 1997 1997 was a
unique year 1997 was the first year that
a British soldier had not been killed in
action since 1967
General Sir Michael Rose in our speech
pointed this out our parents were there
he pointed out that he felt a lot more
would be dying soon
my mother particularly like that as I
remember but since 1997 British soldiers
have died every year in conflict they
have died in increasing numbers reaching
really a sort of crescendo of 2009 when
nearly 200 British soldiers were killed
in action over account of the year then
something changed 2013
nobody soldier killed 2014 they believe
soldier killed 2015 no British soldier
killed 2016 no British soldier killed
2017 I hope no British soldier killed
but we are still meeting out an enormous
amount of hurt to the enemies of Her
Majesty we are still doing a lot of
killing and this is a paradigm shift
where the risk in war is almost so
non-existent that the warfare has become
so asymmetric that pressing the trigger
is a safe almost risk-free option now
this would appear to be Whiggish
progress but I would moot it’s actually
slightly worrying you think I’d be sick
to say I’m wishing for more of this what
orden so wonderfully called men coming
back and cold hermetically sealed boxes
it’s worrying I think that ordinance had
been increasingly popular now again the
harbinger of the second world war is
being reread more and more in these
years but anyway I’m not saying I want
to see this at more brides Morton more
I’m just observing that the absence of
this while we do so much killing is odd
I think we’ve always accepted this is a
well my favorite ever Private Eye car
seems shocked soldier dies in war I
think we’ve always accepted like the
tango warfare is something that requires
– you know we can’t just have it one way
and that participation as a as somebody
who takes part in war involves sacrifice
but hang on if we can get rid of people
as horrendous as this if we have the
ability to kill such awful agents of
evil without any risk to the stout
yeoman and soon-to-be stout yo women of
this country by means of this or indeed
this in the middle of the night surely
that must be a good thing but I find the
decree of detachment disturbing such
dicks distant we are prepared to
prosecute the ultimate sanction more
readily and with less moral
interrogation than if we had skin in the
game now I think the soldier is unique
everybody has a balance how willing you
are to kill how willing you are to be
killed most people unfortunately we look
deep in our souls would probably be
prepared to take a life before sacrifice
their own except it’s the way we are the
soldier is quite unique every morning he
goes out and the two things are probably
in about equilibrium
chance I might get it today chance I
might have to give it to somebody today
and that that strange balance LEDs that
lends a certain integrity to warfare
which actually prevents the whole thing
coming into a slaughter which I think it
could become if you just do it from an
armchair miles away second piece of
popular culture there may be less
popular than the Game of Thrones
fantastic fantastic Ken Loach film The
Wind That Shakes the barley it’s a
particularly horrific scene
Cillian Murphy on the left there who is
in the IRA during that insurgency
against the British he’s having to kill
this young man on the right the young
man on the right is an informant
he’s known him since he was four years
old but they cannot have informers
undermining the IRA at this stage of the
insurgency silly Murphy like any other
good leader he takes on the
responsibility he’s the one who has to
carry out this execution it’s a deeply
disturbing and moving scene but the bit
that strikes on it for me as he comes
back he turns to one of his fellow other
revolution and easy
and he goes Jesus I hope this island
we’re fighting for is worth it now why I
take that as an example is we as a
society need to be near there needs to
be a proximity to the most visceral
elements of warfare its essentials as
those who experience it can relay it to
those upon whose behalf it is carried
out and constantly constantly questioned
whether the juice is worth the squeeze
you can’t do that from an armchair in
High Wycombe you have to be there the
other reason I choose this is in the
film
Cillian Murphy is it plays a young
doctor or young trainee doctor and he’s
the son of the local doctor and I say it
rather selfishly if we are going to go
and kill people we need to be prepared
to sacrifice sons of GPS from Rutland
that’s what I am NOT a particularly
special soldier not a particularly good
soldier the
accidental the ordinary we must be
prepared to risk them not just those
people who through their the fact we’re
special forces we don’t have to name if
we’re going to get hit doing some of
it’s worthwhile we need to know about
the grief of that family that normal
family who are like us
the final point the myth the myth of the
expert of this and if you can hold your
nose long enough and you dip into the
Daily Mail you will read about this
unbelievable Hellfire missile that
stopped to the traffic like turn left
hit the White Widow goodnight nobody
else hurt it doesn’t work like that to
brief had sex I’ve experienced or other
unfortunately when I was hanging around
fighting with Afghan soldiers and Apache
pilot made a mistake and locked on to us
and basically gave us the whole nine
yards not a single one of us was hurt
its miles away it’s not that accurate
sometimes they latch on to other things
another time we went to attack a
building where we were getting a lot of
stick from we were still getting a
little bit of stick from it the absolute
obvious call was to drop a precision
borne it it was in the middle of nowhere
there was no other collateral damage
something in my water said no we
attacked at the normal way fought
through it in the basement of it 15
women and children tied up because
however accurate that is they can get
cleverer than that and then that’s
collateral damage they that they can use
this stuff is not magic it’s not magic
so my conclusion is the broad sunlit
uplands or the Utopia of war is not a
war where there are no friendly forces
casualty it’s actually no war but if war
there must be civilized nations must be
prepared to risk their blood as well as
their treasure thank you very much for
listening
you
[Music]
Please follow and like us: