Saddam's Irish Nemesis

[ahirst]

Don’t know if any of you caught this before, but if so I haven’t seen it around here.

Just before the troops moved off into Iraq Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, gave a remarkable speech to his troops:

[Excerpts]

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them."

"There are some [Iraqis] who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose."

"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his Nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam. He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity."

"It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family. The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please."

"If you harm the regiment or its history by over-enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer. You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest, for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation."

"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will see things that no man could pay to see."

"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."

"As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business now is north."

See also:

http://www.liebreich.com/LDC/HTML/Opinion/TimCollins.html

[Shane Costello]

The speech has been in a number of papers. Some people are comparing it to the Gettysburg address. Personally I thought it was stirring stuff.

[Denise]

Outstanding!

[Jon_in_london]

Henry V was much better

...and cry God for Harry,
England and St. George!!

:cool:

[Mike B.]

"Once more into the breach Englishmen, Once more..."

[zakur]

Saddam Hussein was sitting in his office wondering whom to invade next when his telephone rang.

"Hello, Mr. Hussein!", a heavily accented voice said. "This is Paddy down at the Harp Pub in County Sligo, Ireland. I am ringing to inform you that we are officially declaring war on you!"

"Well, Paddy," Saddam replied, "this is indeed important news! How big is your army?"

"Right now," said Paddy, after a moment's calculation, "there is myself, my cousin Sean, my next door neighbor Seamus, and the entire dart team from the pub. That makes eight!"

Saddam paused. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command."

"Begorra!", said Paddy. "I'll have to ring you back!" Sure enough, the next day, Paddy called again. "Mr. Hussein, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some infantry equipment!"

"And what equipment would that be, Paddy?" Saddam asked.

"Well, we have two combines, a bulldozer, and Murphy's farm tractor."

Saddam sighed. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 16,000 tanks and 14,000 armored personnel carriers. Also, I've increased my army to 1.5 million men since we last spoke."

"Saints preserve us!" said Paddy. "I'll have to get back to you."

Once again, Paddy rang again the next day. "Mr. Hussein, the war is still on! We have managed to get ourselves airborne! We've modified Harrigan's ultra-light with a couple of shotguns in the cockpit, and four boys from the Shamrock Pub have joined us as well!"

Saddam was silent for a minute and then cleared his throat. "I must tell you, Paddy, that I have 10,000 bombers and 20,000 fighter planes. My country is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missilesites. And since we last spoke, I have increased my army to TWO MILLION!"

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!", said Paddy, "I'll have to ring you back."

Sure enough, Paddy called again the next day. "Top o' the mornin', Mr. Hussein! I am sorry to tell you that we have had to call off the war."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Saddam. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Well," said Paddy, "we've all had a long chat over a few pints, and decided there's no way we can feed two million prisoners."

Compare that to the rhetoric of our local armchair warriors. I think the right people are in charge and the right people are in the armchairs.

I'm often struck by the stark difference between yahoos who think they speak for the military because they served in it, and the real pros who do it day in and day out and have no time for macho BS.

[Jon_in_london]

Originally posted by Mike B.
"Once more into the breach Englishmen, Once more..."

Once more into the breach dear friends! Once more! or close the wall up with our English dead!

I like the bit were he tells Harflour whats going to happen if they dont surrender. Perhaps someone should say the same to Saddam and Bahgdad?

[Agammamon]

Originally posted by ahirst
"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them."


I like to think that the American military (military mind you, not necessarily the government) is an enlightened organization that understands that war is a tool of politics, one designed to turn our enemy of today into the valued ally of tomorrow. We invented precision strike ordinance and manuever warfare towards this goal. So why is it that the speech that should be coming from an American officer is coming from Europe and all we get from our people is "evil this" and "vengeance for our fallen that"?

I knew this thread would die out. Not enough macho posturing in this statement to satisfy our local warmongers.

[DanishDynamite]

Originally posted by sundog
I knew this thread would die out. Not enough macho posturing in this statement to satisfy our local warmongers. Stop baiting the armchair warmongers, sundog. It isn't nice to pick on the handicapped.