scribblings from a deist transhumanist libertarian minarchist citizen soldier

Another BBC Interview and a few thoughts to accompany the audio

Posted by Trevor in under other on Jan 20th, 2006 | View Comments |

I’ve conducted another radio interview with the BBC. I was pretty tired the night it occurred.

In retrospect, if I could do the interview over, I would try to be more clear about some of my comments – I am truly convinced that this war is about making a compelling case that what the West has to offer Iraq is far superior to what the insurgency has to offer Iraq. And the Army is one of the primary vehicles for showing people what the West has to offer Iraq.
We are – in our hearts – builders. The insurgency is filled with destroyers. They have no Corps of Engineers, they have no sanitation technicians, water purification people, competent medical staff and no educators worth a damn. They don’t value science, technology or consensual, cooperative relationships. They use force first. We use force last.

We value freedom, even if we sometimes don’t value it enough. They value control over everything and the resulting despair and despondency that accompanies taking away basic choices about which direction a person’s life should take. So what if the Army is trying to ensure that its message gets into the public’s bloodstream? As long as it does so honestly, then it is doing what it should to win.
The freedom of an individual to pursue his or her own pathways in life, to a large degree, is what hangs in the balance here. At least in my eyes. We’re not just deciding for Iraqis, we’re deciding for the entire world. The battle for the future of Iraq is one small fight in a much larger war that is being waged worldwide constantly. Most people are oblivious to it but it’s going on here and it’s going on back home. It’s going on in Britain too, where the radio show I talked too is hosted.

I am glad to be in a place in time and space where I was allowed to speak my mind on a radio show listened to by an audience halfway around the world from me. If I had been British, I wouldn’t have been allowed on the show. That’s sad.

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Teresa Corso

I'm glad they are interviewing you so that the British public can hear not only the opinion of a U.S. soldier serving in the war zone but also an articulated argument to justify the reason we went to war in the first place!

Kitanis

Good Answer

I was put into a simular situation last year after agreeing with a Australian Military Journalist to do a short interview (Actually they are the equivilent to our Combat Camera units in the USAF). I did not get too involved in my personal beliefs with her.. but I did make the statement when asked about the US and the coalition being in the region, should we be there..

My comment was "We must finished what was started or the people who died in the fighting was for nothing"....the Base Public Affairs office tried to stop the AUS office from using my comments.. but in the end they went out..

Its interesting how opinions in this country and our "culture" are taken by different folks..

Jeff

Yep!
On another note ...
"If I had been British, I wouldnâ€™t have been allowed on the show. Thatâ€™s sad."
Why?