Arrogant JD Vance's lie insults 100s of UK troops who died alongside US forces - he forgets this at his peril
US President Donald Trump's right-hand man's attempt to belittle the UK military is just another lying insult - UK troops have died alongside American forces and JD Vance seems to forget that
Hello and welcome to Hostile World with Chris Hughes, a weekly newsletter about the world of defence and geopolitics. You can subscribe here and follow me on Twitter @defencechris. Thank you!
Britain's military losses of more than 600 brave troops in two Iraq wars and Afghanistan have been horribly insulted by loudmouth US Vice President JD Vance.
Fresh from sparking a row with Ukraine’s President, he disrespects their sacrifice when he brands the UK “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” Our troops died in wars that were fought alongside US troops, as he should well know - in a frontline partnership that has lasting deep roots and forged respect between partners. He fired off the insult in an attempt to belittle the possibility of a peacekeeping force in Ukraine led by the UK along with France, both of whom have also served together recently.
In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attack, I witnessed then Prime Minister Tony Blair making a stirring speech about US - UK mutual support in times of war. He talked about how the US had helped the UK in two World Wars and that now was the time for the UK to do the same for America - and it did exactly that. Aside from the arguments about justification his statement would turn out to be prophetic as we saw in the ensuing the brutal war against terror across Asia and Africa.
There were many reporters from the UK in New York on that day and all of us knew we would be getting sent to Iraq and Afghanistan in the ensuing months. As many as 179 UK troops died in the latest war in Iraq helping to topple Saddam and quell a bloody insurgency that ensued and lasted for years.
In the deserts, mountains and dusty towns of Afghanistan some 456 UK troops died fighting an horrific insurgency, yet again alongside their American colleagues. Many times US fighter jets came to the aid of UK ground troops providing air support and vice versa, ditto with medical aid and war-fighters. Both sides have learned from each other in the past few decades, swapping intelligence, trading war techniques and even loaning equipment.
One former SAS officer told me he had been in Fallujah, Iraq alongside US special forces when an American advised him to step away from a wall during a firefight. US troops had learned the hard way, he told me, that rocket propelled grenades sometimes travel along a wall and into a victim if he or she is sheltering there. Apparently, the claim goes, it was safer in that environment to avoid walls in certain circumstances.
It turned out to be good advice and the SAS man, far more experienced in war, nevertheless took it with respect. It also turned out that the advice saved his life later that day. Vance and his outbursts are not doing America any favours on the world stage and the world is becoming tired of the arrogance. It would serve him well to be aware that Britain has a seriously proud history in recent times of doing what it can in support of the US military.
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Chris