A Father of 95th British soldier speaks on the phoney peace after an illegal war.

 

*

Daily Mail

Wednesday, February 1-2006

 

My Son and the Travesty of the Phoney Peace

 

by

 

Roger Bacon

 

The father of Major Matthew Bacon, the 95th British soldier to die in Iraq.

 

Matthew, my eldest son, was a career soldier, the ultimate professional. When he went to Iraq in August last year, he had been in the Army for 17 of his 34 years - half his life

 

Just a month later he was dead, killed by a roadside bomb in Basra. he was the 95th British soldier to die in Iraq.

 

Now the dreadful death toll has risen, as we all knew it would, to

 

100

 

That's 100 young men and women who won't be coming home; 100 devastated families for whom there will never again be true happiness.

 

It is only five month's since Matthew, a Major died, and the pain for my wife Maureen, and me, is still almost unbearably raw.

Indeed if anything, it is getting worse as the full realisation of the enormity and permanence of what has happened sinks in.

 

We will never again see our wonderful son

 

Other families, I know, have been coping with their loss for over two years now, most of them ironically since President Bush declared war officially

 

OVER in APRIL 2003.

 

Then, just 33 British soldiers had been killed in action

 

Now, after two years and nine months of

 

SO-CALLED PEACE

-that number is

 

100

 

-and I fear, it will rise further.

 

[The figure on June 6-2007 is 149]

 

Small wonder, then that many of the families who have lost loved one's now find their grief tinged with mounting anger. We're angry that so many lives are being pointlessly lost in this seemingly endless and totally un-winnable military operation in Iraq.

 

Our soldiers are supposed to be keeping the

 

PEACE

 

-but instead they are dying horrible deaths in another country's

 

CIVIL WAR.

 

Whether the brief and relatively bloodless official 'war' was legal or not -is now something for lawyers and historians to fight over. And I certainly offer my whole-hearted support to people such as

 

Rose Gentle

 

Reg Keys

 

and

 

Sue Smith

 

All of whom lost sons - in their respective efforts to have the

 

WAR declared ILLEGAL

 

But what concerns me more is the

 

TRAGEDY and TRAVESTY

 

-of this misnamed

 

'PEACE'

 

Today we mourn the loss of

 

100

 

-brave men and women, but how many more will have to die before the Prime Minister realises the absolute folly of the

 

CAUSE

 

-he has bullied into supporting?

 

Our lives were changed for ever the night we drove home quietly celebrating my birthday. We turned the radio on and almost immediately heard a report that a routine patrol had been attacked in Basra and that one soldier had been killed and three injured.

 

Matthew was in Basra so we were concerned, but took comfort from the word 'routine'. Matthew was a major in the Intelligence Corps and working out of divisional headquarters - he didn't do 'routine'.

 

As a senior officer, where he went and when he went was very much up to him, and, when he did go out, he knew he tended to travel by helicopter. So, a routine Land-Rover patrol? That couldn't be Matthew - I was sure of it.

 

But alarm bells started to ring when I got home and the chap who looks after the communal car park said two men had been looking for us.

 

Ten minutes later they were back. they introduced themselves as Army officers, told us to sit down and then, in cold but crystal -clear language, told us the news no parent ever wants to hear.

 

Matthew had been killed.

 

OUR SON WAS DEAD

 

You don't believe it at first. We hadn't spoken to Matthew by phone much since he had been in Iraq, but there had been regular e-mails and air-mail letters. In our minds, he was totally alive.

 

Then there was the fact that he had survived so many dangerous postings . he had served in the front line in the original Gulf War, and he had done several tours of duty in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

 

He was a survivor, a man who lived with danger, hated being idle and whose idea of 'relaxing' was to go sky-diving, scuba-diving or mountaineering. His friends got used to being hauled out of a comfortable chair with the words:

 

'Come on , old boy, no time to waste.'

 

He turned out to be right; of course - there was no time to waste.

 

It took ten long days for his body to be returned to Britain. During that time one part of my mind clung to the vain hope that our son was somehow still alive, while another part was facing up to the dreadful and inescapable truth.

 

There had been no mistake. Matthew had been killed by one of the so-called Hezbollah bombs, which use an undetectable infra-red beam to trigger their devastating blast. he was a passenger in a lightly armoured Land -Rover.

 

Against such a weapon that inflicts the most appalling injuries he stood no chance at all

 

Later, we would make the heart-breaking discovery that neither he nor his companions should have  been in Land-Rovers - at all.

 

A helicoptor was due to bring them back to Basra Airbase, but at the last moment it was grounded by a technical problem. Matthew's fate was sealed by the flashing of a hydraulic warning light.

 

There are those who say that if you become a soldier in the British Army, you may one day have to pay the ultimate price for serving your country.

 

I accept it -it was a risk he took

 

He knew a little about the risk even when he joined the local Army Cadet Force at 13. He would have learned more about it when he joined the

 

Junior Leaders Regiment

 

At the age of just 17.

 

And I'm quite sure he knew pretty much all there was to know about it - on the proudest day of my life - my son, a man who had once dreamt no further than becoming an NCO in the Army Air Corps, passed out from Sandhurst as a 2rd Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps.

 

These days, most SANDHURST CADETS join straight from University. When Matthew joined he was 25 and he had already been in the Army for eight years.

 

I think this explains why one phrase keeps coming up in hundreds of cards and letters that we have received since his death.

 

Time and again, both his superior officers and NCOs who served under him, have referred to him as

 

'A soldier's soldier'

 

And he was. he had worked his way up from the bottom, driven by his enthusiasm for the job, a special ability to get on with almost everyone and a deep-rooted desire to keep on getting better, to keep on improving himself.

 

In the months before he died, he had even begun studying for a law degree and had made plans to enter the

 

Sahara Marathon

 

To us, his brother Nick, his partner Natasha and to each of the 400 people who packed his full military funeral Matthew was special.

 

But I know there are 99 other families the length and breadth of Britain, who will tell you exactly the same about their sons and daughters.

 

BECAUSE they were ALL SPECIAL and NONE of them DESERVED TO DIE.

 

-in some faraway land, desparately trying to maintain some sort of order after a war

 

THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN FOUGHT

 

Don't get me wrong. Saddam Hussein was an evil man and he needed to be removed- but not at any cost.

 

Even those who supported the war -and a Government will normally find few more loyal supporters than the families of serving soldiers -

 

NOW LARGELY ADMIT

 

That they were taken to war under false pretences, on the basis of intelligence that was either plain wrong or deliberately distorted.

 

There were no weapons of mass-destruction, just as there were no insurgents until president Bush and Prime Minister Blair blundered in and, in a way that was eminently foreseeable. created the conditions in which these insurgents could thrive and kill over and over again.

 

A soldier's Oath of Allegiance binds him unquestionably to the

 

QUEEN

 

-and thus to the actions and decisions of

 

HER GOVERNMENT

 

For hundreds of years, the government has honoured its part of the bargain by sending our troops into battles that most people would have thought both winnable and RIGHT. Neither of these words can now be said about our situation in

 

IRAQ

 

My son is dead and so are 99 others. I don't want anyone else to die or for any more families to suffer what we and the other bereaved parents have already suffered. We live our children's deaths every day with no end in sight.

 

I realise we cannot run away from the mess we created, but it is high time we set the

 

DATE for DEPARTURE

 

• A BURSERY fund has been set up in Matthew's name

 

Donations (payable to the Outward Bound Trust and marked Matthew Bacon)

 

-Should be sent to Samantha Jackson, Patrons company, the

 

Outward Bound Trust

207 Waterloo Road

London

SE1 8XD

 

THE 100

 

ROLL of HONOUR

 

Jason Ward, 34

John Cecil, 36

Mark Stratford, 39

Les Hehir, 34

Ian Seymour, 28

Llywelyn Evans, 24

Philip Guy,29

Sholto Hedenkog, 26

Anthony king, 35

Philip West, 32

Philip Green, 30

Marc Lawrence, 26

James Williams, 28

Andrew Wilson, 35

Kevin Main,37

Dave Williams, 35

Luke Allsop,24

Simon Cullingworth,36

Steven Roberts,33

Barry Stephen, 31

Stephen Allbut, 35

David Clarke, 19

Matty Hull, 25

Christopher Maddison, 24

Steve Ballard, 33

Shaun Brierley, 28

Chis Muir, 32

Karl Shearer, 24

Alexander Tweedie, 25

Kelan Turrington,18

Chris Muzvuru, 21

Ian Malone, 28

James McCue, 27

Andrew Kelly,18

Duncan Pritchard, 22

Davis Shepherd, 34

Leonard Harvey, 55

Simon Hamilton-Jewel, 41

Russel Aston, 30

Paul Long, 24

Simon Miller,21

Ben Hyde, 23

Thomas Keys, 20

James Linton,43

Jason Smith, 32

David Jones, 29

Matthew Tichener,32

Colin Wall,34

Dewi Pritchard,35

Russel Beeston, 26

John Nightingale, 32

Ian Blank,31

Ryan Lloyd Thomas,18

James Stenner,30

Norman Patterson,28

Andrew Craw, 21

Vincent Windsor, 23

Robert Thomson, 22

Richard Ivell, 29

Gordon Gentle,19

Kristian Gover,30

Chris Rayment, 22

Lee O'Callaghan,20

Marc Ferns, 21

Paul Thomas,29

Stephen Jones,22

Marc Taylor, 27

David Lawrence,25

Kevin Mchale, 27

Denise Rose,34

Stuart Gray,31

Paul Lowe,19

Scott McArdle,22

Pita Tukutukuwaga,27

Paul Connolly,33

Patrick Marshall,39

David Stead,35

Andrew Smith,25

Paul Pardoel,35

Gary Nicholson,42

Richard Brown, 40

Mark Gibbon, 34

Robert O'Conner, 38

David Williams,37

Steve Jones,25

Mark Dobson,41

Anthony Wakefield, 25

Alan Brackenbury,21

Paul Didsbury, 18

Richard Shearer,26

Leon Spicer, 26

Phillip Hewett, 21

Donal Meade,20

Stephen Manning,22

Matthew Bacon, 34

Ken Masters,40

Christian Hickey, 30

John Jones, 31

Allan Douglas, 22

Gordon Prichard, 31

 

*          *          *

 

In tribute to our islanders who gave their lives for their country who appear on the above

ROLL of HONOUR

we call on the words of our greatest Naval Commander

Lord Horatio Nelson

 

 

NOT ONE JOT OF

ENGLAND'S

HONOUR

 

by

 

Lord Nelson

 

(From a speech in the House of Lords)

 

November 2nd -1802

 

'My Lords, I have in different countries seen much of the miseries of War. I am, therefore, in my inmost soul a

 

MAN of PEACE

 

Yet would I not be for any peace, however fortunate, consent to sacrifice one jot of

 

ENGLAND'S HONOUR?

 

Our honour is inseparably combined with our genuine interest. hitherto, there has been nothing greater known on the

 

CONTINENT

 

than the faith , the untarnished honour, the generous public sympathies, the high diplomatic influence, the commerce, the power, the

 

VALOUR of the BRITISH NATION.'

 

*          *

[Our Armed Forces as usual do their duty magnificently but can we say the same about the

 

BLAIR GOVERNMENT

 

-which ignored all diplomatic advice against an illegal war and has lowered the esteem of our nation in the eyes of much of the world today.

 

*

As a further tribute to our brave men and women above who gave their lives , we recall  the words of  a past great

 

President of the United States of America

- on January 6-1941

 

-in his hopes for mankind at a time when

 

DICTATORS

 

-were intent on conquering the World.

 

Ironically the following words were from the

Democratic leader of the Free World.

*

 

FOUR ESSENTIAL FREEDOMS

 

In future days that we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms.

 

FIRST -is freedom of speech and expression-everywhere in the world.

 

SECOND - is freedom for every person to worship God in his own way-everywhere in the world.

 

THIRD - is the freedom from want, which translated into world terms, means economic understanding which will secure to every nation a healthy peace-time life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.

 

FOURTH - is freedom from fear which , translated into world terms means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against a neighbour- anywhere in the world.

 

This is no basis of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny, which the dictators seek to create the crash of bombs.

 

 

President Roosevelt

January 6th-1941

 

*          *          *

[Font altered Bolding & Underlining Used-Comments in Brackets]

 

FEB/06

 

*

Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty-2008 Leaders of the European Union's 27 member states meet in Portugal this week to sign what will now become known as the Lisbon Treaty.   * The abolition of Britain by The Reform Treaty - Second Reading-Passed by majority of 138 * Veteran parliamentarian TONY BENN speaks of the absolute necessity of a REFERENDUM HEAR HIM ON http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o0I-ZdvQz1o *

 

Elections in the British One Party State If you vote Conservative, Labour, Lib-Dem, UKIP or the BNP, you'll be voting for the EU dictatorship. All five party leaderships are EU controlled. That's why your vote doesn't make a difference - all these five parties have the same policies: the EU's policies. The 17 most senior politicians in the Conservative, Lib Dem and Labour parties, including Ken Clarke, Francis Maude, Cameron, William Hague, George Osborne, Nick Clegg, Brown, David and Ed Milliband, Ed Balls, Peter Mandleson are Bilderbergers, the 140 strong band of ultra senior Freemasons who are bribed by the EU to build the EU dictatorship. No Bilderberger, Freemason or Common Purpose graduate should ever be allowed to hold public office. UKIP and the BNP are honey traps to neutralise activists: UKIP is riddled with Freemasons and Common Purpose like a cancer, and the BNP controlled by the Edgar Griffin (father) and son Nick Freemasonry family. The 350,000 freemasons and the 40,000 strong Common Purpose Organisation are the (mostly unknowing) foot soldiers of the EU in Britain. (Which makes the BNP the easiest party to clean up - get rid of the Griffins, and put in a real anti-EU leadership.)  For more details go to :http://eutruth.org.uk IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF UKIP  OR  INTEND TO JOIN THEM TAKE NOTE OF THE MESSAGE ABOVE     THE EDP HAS BEEN CRITICAL OF THE MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP OF THE UKIP FOR SOME TIME NOW AS IS SHOWN IN A NUMBER OF BULLETINS  OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS WHERE WE HAVE CRITICISED THEIR LACK LUSTRE PERFORMANCE AS THEY FAILED TO MOTIVATE THEIR MEMBERSHIP TO A MORE DETERMINED CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN WHICH WOULD HAVE MADE THE GOVERNMENTS TREMBLE BUT THEY HAD NO WORRY BECAUSE THEY HAD THEIR OWN PERSONS IN CHARGE AT THE TOP OF THE ORGANISATION.  THIS FIGHTING SPIRIT HAS BEEN LACKING AND WE CAN CONFIRM THIS OURSELVES BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT WHEN A MARCH WAS CANCELLED - AND WATCH THE FARCE WHEN CANDLES WERE HELD AND THOUSANDS OF LETTERS SENT TO MPS WHO KNEW WHERE TO DISPOSES OF THEM -AND ALL TO NO AVAIL.  IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF UKIP YOU HAVE BEEN BETRAYED BY YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP SOME APPEAR ON THE ALEX JONES SHOW WHICH HAS BEEN UNDER CLOSE SPOTLIGHT RECENTLY AS BEING CLOSE TO AN ISRAELI SECURITY FIRM DETAILS ON OUR WEBSITE .    IRONICALLY IT WAS A CHANCE LOOK ON THE INTERNET A FEW YEARS AGO  TO COME UPON THAT SITE WHICH OPENED OUR MIND TO THE ILLUMINATI.   THOUGH WE HAVE SOME DETAILS OF THE BILDERBERGERS ON OUR SITE  A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO WE FAILED TO DO MORE RESEARCH- WE ALL HAVE TO LEARN.  THE FAILURE OF UKIP WE HAVE SUSPECTED  FOR MANY YEARS   THAT MANY AT THE TOP OF THEIR ORGANISATION MIGHT BE UNDERCOVER MEMBERS OF THE ILLUMINATI.  IT IS A FAVOURITE TRICK OF THEIRS TO SUPPORT ANY PARTY OR ORGANISATION AT THE OUTSET WHATEVER ITS POLICY AS IT ALLOWS THEM TO PUT THEIR OWN PEOPLE IN TO CONTROL ITS POLICES AS THEY BEHIND THE SCENES SUPPLY THE VITAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT.   Our intention is not to benefit from this disaster as since the 1999 European Election we have NOT! accepted a DONATION! from ANYONE! and we closed membership also because we did not wish to split the vote for UKIP but have stated in the past that we would contest another election if it was ever necessary to enter into the affray again and with the reputation of UKIP under scrutiny we will keep our options OPEN!   As we mentioned some time ago we have been almost two decades on the campaign trail to free our once FREE INDEPENDENT NATION STATE of ENGLAND from the SATANIC EU and those who have for centuries have planned for an EVIL ONE-WORLD CORPORATION/GOVERNMENT and EXTERMINATE! at least 5 BILLION of the WORLD'S POPULATION and therefore if we are right about those mentioned above they are not only TRAITORS to their COUNTRY but also a THREAT to WORLD PEACE.   However, of late, matters have NOT! been going well for the ILLUMINATI as you will observe BELOW.     WHAT A WAY TO WIN A WAR       BENJAMIN FULFORD   More! [WORKS] * SEEKTHETRUTHANDWISDOM   * Bank Of England « The Banking Swindle   More!   More!   PATRIOT or TRAITOR to HIS COUNTRY +More!    More!   +(More!     THIS YOU MUST SEE IT CONCERNS  YOUR PLANET! AND  YOU!     NO NEED TO PANIC!   'Others shall sing the song, Others shall right the wrong,- Finish what I begin, All all I fail of win. Hail to the coming singers! Hail to the brave light-bringers! Forward I reach and above All that they sing and dare.   The airs of heaven blow o'er me; A glory shines before me Of what mankind shall be'- Pure, generous, brave and free, I feel the earth move sunward, I join the great march onward, And  take, by faith, while living, My freehold of thanksgiving.-   WHITTIER   MAY-2012   TOP OF PAGE   The Soul of England pt I **** The Soul of England pt 2 **** Why are we English made to feel guilty? **** Don't let them destroy our Identity **** Nor shall my sword **** Why can't we have a right to be English ?- pt I **** Why can't we have a right to be English ? -pt 2 **** England is where the majority views are ignored and minorities rule at their expense in politically-correct Browndom **** Alfred - Christian King of the English-pt I **** Alfred - Christian King of the English -pt 2 **** Englishmen as others see us beyond our once oak wall **** England arise!-Today we can claim our right of self-determination. **** Kiss good bye to your sovereignty and country **** St George's Day-England's Day **** The Spirit of England by Winston Churchill.     ADDED - MAY-2012

 

*