STOP PRESS! ANTI-WAR LONG-HAIR SAYS LAY OFF THE SOLDIERS, EH?

It's no secret that I was against the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I'm not sure what the British and American governments think they're achieving in Afghanistan either. But abusing returning British soldiers as people did in Luton yesterday is ridiculous, and actually, it brings the anti-war cause into disrepute with the larger population.

The soldiers went to Iraq because they were TOLD to go to Iraq. They are in Afghanistan because that's where their orders have sent them. And although there is suffering and abuse and violation of international convention on both sides, they're having a pretty awful time while they're over there. And I would imagine a good many of them believe they're experiencing and inflicting the horrors of war in the name of a righteous cause. For Britain. For democracy.

In other words, for the continuation and health of pretty much the same ideals those of us in the anti-war movement go on marches and write crap nobody reads on Facebook. The British and American soldiers are not our enemies. They have been put into a situation we deplore BY our enemies--that is, obviously, politicians and the vested interests that motivate and manipulate them--and as a consequence their lives, if they get to keep them, will be changed forever.

Leave them alone, I say to Islamic activists and the dumber people on the fringes of the anti-war movement, and direct your ire against the people who really deserve it.