Call it what you want, this is simply another example of paying Danegeld. Those idiots who say they would refuse to serve in an army that won't pay to get them back have the vaguest hint of a point - namely that a military & government SHOULD make every effort to get them back, even if getting one man home safe gets 10 men killed. However, they are being penny-wise and pound-foolish, for a government that will make this trade is only putting a target on the backs of all their other soldiers, including the future soldiers who are demanding the trade. If they will trade a couple hundred guys for a corporal, then even a private must be seen as a worthwhile target to the enemy, let alone a sergeant or commissioned officer!
Danegeld... Never heard that term before, thanks.
About the idiots, well it's not their fault for being young and dumb. My beef is with the coverage they and others like them get. You can't imagine how many pro-swap campaigns are going on, but think Coca Cola + McDonalds.
"It is wrong to place temptation in the path of any nation
For fear that they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say,
'We never pay anyone Danegeld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of the game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!'" - Rudyard Kipling "Danegeld"
Too true, Kipling.
Democracy doesn't do the trick.
- 02/12/2009 05:35:03 PM
489 Views
Losing the will to fight..?
- 02/12/2009 07:08:41 PM
449 Views
Re: Losing the will to fight..?
- 03/12/2009 10:40:35 AM
381 Views
And then you haven't even touched upon another scandalous part...
- 02/12/2009 11:03:36 PM
444 Views