Harry Patch and the futility of War

I know that I do have a bit of a wicked sense of humour and on Friday when I had gone into Newcastle to meet my new better half for lunch, she had needed to pop into the chemists to get a cream for some chaffing. With all the diplomacy I could muster I told her that she was being a bit presumptuous. Fortunately I have got to know her well enough that it raised a hearty laugh from her. Then when she slipped away to the ladies I went out in to Old Eldon Square to wait for her. While I was there I took a couple of pictures of the war memorial.

With the Death of Harry Patch the oldest survivor of the first world war, in my thoughts the wording just struck a cord with me. When my Better half came back I had told her what had been on my mind regarding Harry Patch, and we were able to talk about the futility of war in a reasoned and intelligent manner. That is one of the aspects of our friendship that I greatly value, that I can have a good laugh with her one minute and a deep intellectual conversation with her the next.

For me it is a real joy to find a woman who is an intellectual equal and with mind that will challenge me and stretch me. It has been a quality that I have search for all my life and now I have found a woman like that. I am sorry if my dear reader you think I am getting all soppy, but you will have to put up with this from time to time as my head and heals are inverted at the moment.

However, going back to the War Memorial, as I had travelled in to Newcastle on the bus I was looking at the war memorial in the village. Recently some new houses have been built there, and while done tastefully, there does not seem to be the same respect in the Village for the fallen as occurs in other villages. That saddens me a bit as there people from this village in Afghanistan fighting the war there.

Now while I can actually see a valid reason starting that war, and that was to remove Al-Qa'ida and the Bin Liner, the war has become a war with the Afghan tribes. Take away the title of Taliban and that is effectively what it has become. The problem is you just can not win a war like this. Now while I don't know how the war is being reported in other parts of the world, but here it is mainly limited to a count of bodies coming home with derisory information regarding the hundreds of Afghan dead or injured. Alternatively the reporting is about the lack of equipment or claims that the equipment is not up to the job.

Equally there are the political claims that are used to create the illusion that progress is being made. The one that annoys me most is that now there are six million children in schools now. Not true, as while that is the number that is registered in schools less than a fifth are actually attending. Most children are just to afraid to go to school as the Taliban threaten and kill the parents and teachers that try to go. While I feel that what the Taliban are doing is a serious breach of the human rights of all Afghan citizens, it is a greater crime for the girls and women that are excluded from education. Having the women uneducated perpetuates the sick society that oppresses and abuses women.

However, that alone can not justify the loss of life nor the thousands that have been injured. Neither is the fact that Afghanistan is the centre of heroin poppy growing. The simple fact is that we need other ways of dealing with these problems, not by going to war.

The sick Irony is that with both Iraq and Afghanistan it was the countries that are now fighting in the western coalition that supplied the weapons. It is no different to what happened in the first world war, you would think we would learn something from past mistakes.

When Harry Patch reached one hundred years, he was 113 when he died, he started talking about the war and his experiences. He said that that war was not worth a single life lost. That is a sentiment that I can only agree with. In fact the first world war only guaranteed the second world war. The cold war too.

The lessons we need to learn is resolving the causes of conflict long before they ever happen, and central to this is poverty and the lack of a fair society across the globe. The cesspit of conflict that is the middle east has at its heart conflicts over scarce resources especially water. Add to this the great wealth that oils has brought a few and tensions mount. Then throw religion in to this toxic mix and you have an explosive mixture.

While in the past I have tried to avoid upsetting folks by being critical of anyone heartfelt beliefs, as quite simply I feel that if folks want to believe that the moon is made of cheese that is their choice, but the moon is not made of Cheese and god is a human construct. Further, people don't have a choice regarding religion as children across most of the planet are indoctrinated and brainwashed into believing in a god, just pick your flavour to match the part of the world you were born in.

Many years ago I had a debate with one of my ex wife's lecturers while she was doing her degree, I had asked the question of why so many volunteered during the first world war, even after the population knew that the trenches were Hell on Earth. I was told that it was because the conditions in Industry, the Mines and the Factories were so appalling and death in industry was so frequent that going to war was no more dangerous than staying home. I thought on that and I just could not buy that as a reason. Now I know that from the pulpits priests, Vickers and preachers were calling for men to do their patriotic duty. This was gods war, just has is happening now with the conflicts with the Taliban et al.

If we all spent more time effort and money solving the problems such as poverty, injustice lack of health provision and hunger without shoving religious doctrine down children's throats we can all but eliminate war in a generation.

I am not assuming that this will some great utopia, but if more effort was put into making this world better than worrying about a mythical paradise then we really could crate a much better world.

There would always be some chaffing in societies but cooperation is the cream that will ease that.

And my Better Half was not being presumptuous as we ended up doing a lot of walking and she had needed the cream.