The unnamed war victims

The unnamed war victims

Monday 17 August 2009

The Stop the War Coalition has marked a grave and ongoing tragedy at the Cenotaph. But a far greater tragedy will go almost unnoticed.

Two hundred and four British soldiers have now died in George Bush and Tony Blair's senseless invasion of Afghanistan, along with nearly 800 of their US counterparts.

No-one can honestly tell you what they died for. First the war was to catch Osama bin Laden, then it was to bring democracy to Afghanistan, now it's to stop terrorist attacks being plotted there. No doubt another empty excuse will be along soon.

Every death in the service of this pointless, stupid, apparently never-ending war is a tragedy - and that includes the people fighting it.

Some of those 204 victims may have joined up to escape desperate poverty, as so many US soldiers do. Some may have sincerely believed that they were doing humanitarian work or defending their country, or they may simply have trusted their government not to lead them wrong.

If so they were misguided. But being misguided is not a capital crime. And surely it's the people who told the lies that should pay, not the people who believed them?

These soldiers deserve to be mourned and they deserve to be remembered.

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