A belated topic that would have been better on ANZAC DAY...

[Johnno]

I just got this from one of the email lists I am on - I'm not sure what things are like for ex-servicemen in the US/Canada/etc. but this is an example from Australia...

The wording shows that the writer is fairly angry - but I think I would be too...

*****************************************************

Political Bastardry!

Well you may think!

On the 18th of August 1966 at Long Tan,Vietnam,
D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment,
mainly made up of Australian National Servicemen
and at that time located to support the American Army,
fought a battle against the Viet Cong.
In this action D Company lost 18 men killed and 24 injured.

The Viet Cong dead numbered in excess of 245.

The Australian lines were never crossed.

The Viet Cong withdrew.

American President Johnson and US Army Staff recognised the achievement by awarding the Unit Citation of Gallantry on 30th May 1968.

The Award was formally accepted by Queen Elizabeth in 13th June 1968.

Prime Minister John Gorton made the formal presentation of this American Citation to the Battalion at Lavarack Barracks,Townsville on 18th August 1968.

On the 31st of March 2010, D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment were belatedly awarded the Australian version of "Unit Citation for Gallantry" (UCG) honouring their extraordinary deeds at Long Tan.

The Government however refused to approve travel payment for the surviving Unit Members or their families, including the families of deceased Unit Members, in order that they be present at the
UCG Presentation Ceremony presided over by the Governor General of Australia.

In February 2011 the same Government of Australia footed the Funeral Bill to bury the illegal boat people, who tragically perished on Christmas Island.

This included flying surviving family illegals and survivors to and from Sydney and Xmas Island, accommodating them, etc etc, plus a Coach tour of Sydney thrown in.

The Canberra Polit Bureaux had waited 45 years to publicly acknowledge the bravery and sacrifice of these Sons of Australia
and then immediately Shit on their memory by wetting themselves
to appease the feelings of boat illegals forcing their entry into our country.

Now we witness,what can only be described as, attempted political face saving, by this same Government, sponsoring a TV Documentary, to celebrate our Armed Forces accomplishments
at Kapyong, Korea in 1951.

This will see our Prime Minister and the entire Priministeral Entourage fly in a RAAF plane to Korea to mark this 60th Anniversary.

What Bloody Hypocrisy!!!

What a Blatant Affront to the feelings of our Nation's serving Armed Forces, Past and Present.

Shame,Shame,Shame,

You Political Parasites.

You do not deserve to represent our country.

 

[Johnno]

(For those of you who don't know the background we have a MAJOR issue in Australia now with the hundreds of boatloads of illegal immigrants coming in by boat every day - almost all of them muslims from the third world and specifically from places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, etc, etc... Its a major social problem now and its costing the taxpayer millions of dollars - but the above story gives you a good idea of where the government's priorities are at - criminals who illegally enter Australia given everything they want - at the taxpayer's expense - but the average AUSTRALIAN old age pensioner gets so little money to live on they have to resort to buying dog food and can't afford to buy the medicines they need...

I don't know if there are similar social issues here in Argentina - I haven't been here long enough to really know the country that well - and as I said in the title, this would have been a much more relevant post on ANZAC DAY - but better late than never

(This was the sort of email you get that once you've read it you just feel you HAVE to post it somewhere - even if its just to get it off your chest or whatever...)

Thanks for reading

 

[ndcj]

Typical Australian redneckery and xenophobia.

The story you post has nothing to do with undocumented arrivals (the correct name -- they are not "illegal immigrants").

The only major issue with undocumented arrivals in Australia (which number only in the hundreds in a country with a population of over 20 million) is the cheap political scumbaggery that makes them a political issue to whip up the uneducated masses.

On top of that, the story you post is like a bad game of chinese whispers. Read the real story here:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...on-for-gallantry/story-e6freoof-1226018751194

 

[tanvimil]

IMHO opinion there are two sides to this issue:

1. If Australia engages in illegal wars under the justification that it is bringing democracy to Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan, than surely they should be welcoming people who is fleeing from these countries with open arms?

2. If you are a caucasian male, then how do you think the aborigines see you? Where should one draw the line of not accepting immigrants?

 

[Johnno]

Interesting arguments - but for me I don't care a fig about the politicians - when it comes to the wars we have been in it was NOT the soldiers who ''decided'' - it was the politicians who SENT them - and my respect is with those who put on the uniform and SERVED their country - whether the war was a just one or not is something you can lay at the feet of the corrupt politicians - disrespect them and detest them if you will (I know *I* do) - but I will NEVER blame our soldiers who put their lives on the line and were following orders they HAD to follow - remember up to the time of the Vietnam war there was still CONSCRIPTION - these guys went because they HAD to and because they felt obliged to - and because the same sort of media being quoted above (what I try to politely call the *controlled media*) gave them a story to believe so that they went off to fight a war THEY had been told was necessary etc...

Hey - hindsight is 20/20 as they say - and its always easy to talk the talk - its walking the walk that takes what I call good old-fashioned intestinal fortitude (or ''guts'' for short lol

 

[Johnno]

...as for the ''aboriginal question'' and rewinding the clock back 200 years to debate how we feel about the then NORMAL standard of ''terra nullius'' that was applied by ALL European nations in their empire building and the establishment of colonies - what a CLASSIC left wing tactic of misdirection/sleight of hand - lets use something that happened 200 years ago to justify that is okay for these illegals to come in by the boatload now in 2011 and for the stupid old taxpayer (i.e. ME) to have to PAY FOR IT ALL whether I like it or not and with literally ZERO say in the matter...

...and as for the good ole ''redneck'' label - I have to admit that I would personally consider being called by certain people a ''redneck'' to be a COMPLIMENT I guess what it comes down to is Australia is MY country - its not a country I want to see as an islamic republic filled with aliens who have never and will never assimilate and whose beliefs, ideology and culture is utterly incompatible with the Australian way of life...

The numbers of the illegals coming in can always be debated - but the fact remains that they pay their bribes to the people smugglers and they come in ILLEGALLY - and it is people like me (I still pay TAXES in Australia) who end up footing the bill...

There was NEVER a referendum on this - neither side of government would have been dumb enough to hold one over the last 40 years because if they had the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of the Australian public would have voted almost unanimously for these criminals to be put back in their boats and sent back to where they came from...

So - yes - I guess if as a citizen of Australia from a family of people who have actually CONTRIBUTED something to the country I am a ''redneck'' because I object to what is being done by successive Australian governments AGAINST the will of the people and without our approval or consent or ever having had a REFERENDUM on the matter - well, what can I say? I'll just have to wear that ''redneck'' label with PRIDE

As for the argument about Australia engaging in illegal wars etc - am I disagreeing? No - but are we engaging in these ON OUR OWN or because we are pressured by the BIG BOYS who are the *real* warmongers to ''be part of the team'' and ''do our bit'' ? I don't think I need to name who the REAL players are here - EVERYBODY knows

The first person to say that Australian troops should NOT have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan would have been ME - these are wars we should have NEVER gotten involved in and go completely against what I think is the only real solution to the middle east - that ALL western nations STAY OUT of it and let the buggers do what they want to do anyway - wipe each other out - they have been doing it for thousands of years and its a way of life over there - and will be LONG after we have pulled out and are still counting the cost in dollars and human lives of yet another pointless war to fuel the military-industrial complex that Australian leaders delude themselves into believing that Australia is some how a ''significant'' player in lol

 

[Johnno]

PS ''NDCJ'' - I'm so glad to know we have an EXPERT on this board on ''Typical Australian redneckery and xenophobia'' - without this timely and wonderfully constructive redirection I might have actually been dumb enough to continue thinking that as a citizen of Australia I was actually entitled to having a SAY in how my country was governed and the sort of immigration we accept or reject - but I bow to your superior wisdom here because later on down the track as a taxpayer I can always continue to pay more and more money into the counter-terrorism measures that will increasingly be needed to deal with the next generation of home grown terrorists plotting and planning their ongoing ''jihad'' against us ''infidel scum''...

Truly - in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king - I may not know it all but I'm happy to stick with having one eye that works

 

[ghost]

IMHO opinion there are two sides to this issue:

1. If Australia engages in illegal wars under the justification that it is bringing democracy to Vietnam, Korea and Afghanistan, than surely they should be welcoming people who is fleeing from these countries with open arms?

2. If you are a caucasian male, then how do you think the aborigines see you? Where should one draw the line of not accepting immigrants?

illegal wars .....What exactly constitutes a "legal war". Man that is really some dumb ass leftover 60s hippie jargon. I guess the Civil War in the US was illegal for the South because they lost?

 

[Johnno]

True - I was using the OP's terminology - I guess I could have changed it to something like ''immoral'' but once again it could probably be argued that just about any war is immoral anyway - to tell you the truth the only time I think war is justified is when there is an enemy invading you or directly threatening you - maybe thats the best word of all here - using this definition there's no doubt in my mind that both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were unjustified...

 

[tanvimil]

lets use something that happened 200 years ago to justify that is okay for these illegals to come in by the boatload now in 2011

Well you have to admit that it is a bit ironic that you are against immigration when your own ancestors also were immigrants.

and for the stupid old taxpayer (i.e. ME) to have to PAY FOR IT ALL whether I like it or not and with literally ZERO say in the matter...

It does cost money, but they do also give something back. And thanks to them you don't have to do the shit work anymore. They have become the new lower class.

illegal wars .....What exactly constitutes a "legal war". Man that is really some dumb ass leftover 60s hippie jargon. I guess the Civil War in the US was illegal for the South because they lost?

A war of aggression is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense. Waging such a war of aggression is a war crime under the customary international law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_war

And it's funny that you are enraged of the use of 'illegal wars', but when mentioning 'illegal immigration', you are not.