Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
We went to speak to author, activist and public intellectual Tariq Ali about his book "Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes". We discuss the myth of the wartime Prime Minister, his racist and colonialist views and whether modern Britain should revise its understanding of the man.
I can remember my grandmother in Liverpool telling me that she hated Churchill for sending armed police against striking workers. She and many of her generation were no supporters of the man. You only need to look as far as Ireland to see the consequences of Churchill's bigoted form of racism.
One of the leading architects of the divisive, colonial determination to retain strategic territory the British had occupied for centuries, covering a significant portion of the province of Ulster, a quintessential part of what was traditional, Gaelic Ireland.
It was Churchill who played a major role in ensuring Ireland's partition. It is no coincidence that British schools do not educate pupils about the way the Irish were treated over the centuries.
Churchill was a figure of hate among most of the adults I grew up with in 1960s Glasgow. Funny how people forget. It's a living memory thing I suppose.
