As usual on this board in particular, quoting and sub quoting can lead to going off on tangents that are impossible to fully thrash out, and the original idea gets lost!

I began with my gripe that my dad was shunned by an organisation that had been his only compensation for years after WW2, and it became difficult to keep to it. I mention Iraq because I think it was brought up somewhere else, so off it went that way. Kosovo I think was going on when he got his refusal, and it broke his heart a bit, and therefore mine.

I'm sorry, but I'm sure many British soldiers are with the best intentions trying to train Iraqis to become policemen, and to properly deal with security etc, but after centuries of becoming brutalised, it does seem futile to me. The Middle East in general is about 1000 years behind many parts of the world when it comes to justice, or what's considered fair and acceptable. It utterly informs the mindset of the population. I even heard reports that many women in Afghanistan won't remove their Burkhas now, even though they 'can'. They have been conditioned through fear.

That's me now, and I hope you do stay:)

x