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Something to ponder!

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Lord Shagg-Pyle:
I did some training a few years ago in what the current Politically Correct lobby call 'Urban Pacification' (riot control, in other words), and we had a lot of young service personnel from the USAF base at Lakenheath, acting as our crowd.
They were a great bunch of people, very willing to help and keen to know about their host country, but very unwise in the ways of the World.
I was approached by one chap who very sincerely said that it was a great honour to be in the UK, fighting a common enemy, namely 'Terrorism', as he felt he was doing much the same as his grandfather had done in the USAAF, during Dubya Dubya the Second, and one day we in the UK would suffer at the hands of terrorists, much the same as the US of A had done with 9/11.
I thanked him for his sentiments, and after pondering if he was really that niave told him about about 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, and how long Britain had been fighting terrorism on home ground, and how PIRA would fund raise in New York and Boston, via Noraid, to get dollars to buy weapons and munitions to kill Forces personnel, Police officers and innocent civillians.
He genuinley didn't know that that went on, saying that they didn't get told stuff like that.
I wasn't that surprised.

Dave Rogers:
oddly enough, the general perception of the american public with regard to the terrorist threat in both america and the uk, differs greatly to our own. the recent shooting of the illegal immigrant in london would not have been treated in the same way in the USA, primarily because the common loyalty to America is different, the concept of communal identity is much discussed and adopted, because the American history is relatively short. Our own identity in the uk is watered down although I may be wrong. Do we have a unified sense of pride in being British?
The irish 'problem' such as it used to be known, was compounded because of the historical refugees who fled from the emerald isle,because of this thread, money has been raised because of that misguided sense of historical connection.
Americans on the whole, don't get this, only recently, when Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness were snubbed by the whitehouse when two women took the murder of their broe ther to George Bush, did the whole issue of the irish fundraising scenario become news in the states, even though it's been happening for many many years.

Where is all this leading?

Well, don't be surprised if we're subjected to some american concepts and ideas with regard to rights of way if a few of our own organisations and government departments get their way. Rightly or wrongly, it's how this concept is sold which could make the difference to whether rights of way remain open or are eventually closed over a number of years. It's all about information, perception, publicity, concepts and understanding.
Be watchful and be alert,

we need 'Lerts :)

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