It's Values Time Again

It appears that various malcontents - those who believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was not a Good Thing, and persons of that sort - are stirring up trouble about the condition of British troops returning from the fun and games in Iraq. More than twenty thousand servicemen and women, not counting reservists, are suffering from anxiety and depression; more than a thousand former soldiers are homeless; and at least seventeen have committed suicide. That is their choice, of course. In a nation with a less magnificent democratic tradition than Britain has developed since 1997, it is almost certainly fair to say that conditions would probably not be as favourable as under the circumstances certain conditions in Britain could be said to have been. Nonetheless, instead of rejoicing at the availability of private health insurance, ever larger PFI hospitals, and nurses with economically viable pay packets, troops who have received NHS treatment complain of waiting up to eighteen months, being left without pain relief, and being neglected on the wards. There are even murmurs of discontent at the approaching closure of Haslar Hospital, which will leave Britain - the European country which has immersed the most soldiers in the Quagmire for Freedom - as the only European country without a dedicated military hospital. This is certainly disturbing. It is clear that many of Tony's troopers have no proper idea of, let alone enthusiasm for, the values for which they have really been fighting all this time - much as the Independent on Sunday refers to "the young men and women who risk their lives for this country".