Tuesday 10 March 2015

“Armchair generals must share blame – Hammond”

From the BBC:

"Armchair generals" who support British foreign military interventions are partly responsible for violence in the Middle East, Philip Hammond has said...

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) in London, Mr Hammond said:

"One sided coverage by the tabloids which unfailingly refer to British soldiers as 'Our Boys' has resulted in politicians chasing an easy vote by sending them off to take part in one badly judged adventure after another.

"We are absolutely clear; the duty to attack foreign countries is with the soldiers. But a huge burden of responsibility also lies with the politicians who send them there and the armchair generals who act as apologists for them."

3 comments:

Random said...

I believe the term is 'chickenhawk.'

Mark Wadsworth said...

R, interesting.

What do you call an "armchair pacifist" like me who is generally anti-war as a matter of practicality and principle, but has never been on an anti-war demo, chianed himself to a tank, camped at Greenham Common etc?

Random said...

I dunno, you are in the same boat as me.
Not a hippy?