Let’s not get carried away here with talk of Heroes and Major’s followed by Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Iraq in the same sentence. Labour seem, again, to have taken the high moral ground as their Publicity Juggernaut rolls into Barnsley for the second by-election in as many months.
Eric Illsley the disgraced Public Expenses fiddler, who despite having full knowledge that a court appearance was likely, continued with the electoral process and after receiving the mantle for another term proceeded straight to the checkout for a top up !
Now in his misguided wisdom Ed Milliband, the estranged Labour Leader, has appointed a former Major of the Parachute Regiment to defend Labour’s dismal reputation in Barnsley.
True! When we think of the Para’s we think of 1982 and the Falklands with the likes of Lt. Colonel Herbert Jones and Sergeant Ian John McKay the two posthumous Victoria Cross holders. The bravery and sacrifice of the British First Airborne Division at Arnhem under the diligent command of Major General Robert ‘Roy’ Elliot Urquhart.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Parachute Regiment served distinguished tours in all three conflict zones of Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Iraq and I am sure that Mr. Jarvis played his part in some small way but ‘HERO?’
The word ‘Hero’ seems to have lost it’s true meaning these days as the media, in general, use it for so many headlines as follows.
The word ‘Hero’ is defined according to the Oxford Dictionary as: a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities: a war hero
Unfortunately the likes of the tabloids (Sun, Star, Mirror) could not wait to be able to introduce ‘we the public’ to the next ‘HERO’ and in the process reduce all the frontline squaddies heroic deeds to nothing.
A hero is someone who habitually performs heroic deeds. To be considered a hero you have to perform something heroic. Just because you have a military uniform and a gun doesn't mean that you're naturally a hero. It means you're a soldier. If you then performed some heroic deed with that uniform and gun, then you could argue for heroism, but until that time, you're just a soldier. Can Mr. Jarvis in all honesty, understanding and acknowledging the sacrifices of his peers previous and contemporary, consider himself part of a truly unique cadre of men and women who retain a unifying factor; that of ‘Heroism?’
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All Soldiers are humans; they are capable of great good and great evil just as all of us are. They are simply exposed to the extremes of human behaviour so they are the ones who act out the extremes of heroism and evil acts more often. To prescribe everyone who ever puts on a uniform, the title of "hero", is just lessening the word’s value and taking it away from the people who really deserve the honour.
I cannot deny that it takes great courage and skilful training to operate daily out of a continually changing and challenging warzone but let’s get this ‘hero thing’ into perspective.
It is a sad indictment on Labour and an extremely cynical ploy that they would use the emotional lure of a self appointed ‘hero’ to overcome decades of corruption within their party. After all it was under the leadership of the War Criminal Tony Blair that the troops made their first tentative steps into Asia.
Mr Blair insisted that, on the basis of the intelligence available at the time, he stood by his claim at the time that it was "beyond doubt" Iraq was continuing to develop its weapons capability. However he acknowledged "things obviously look quite different" now given the failure to discover any weapons after the invasion. He also rejected claims he manipulated intelligence to justify the invasion.
But this is the way with Labour and now with the two ‘ED’ cases at the helm the refusals to accept the wrong doing will continue to pile up at Labour’s doors. The question is what do we do about it?
