Letter of the Week (2)

Apologies for being a little bit late with this week's Letter of the Week.
This week I've chosen a letter from Ray Davies, published in Saturday's Morning Star.

"In 1947 when floods ravaged the country who was in the front line, sand-bagging homes, premises, industrial premises, schools, assisting the elderly? It was the British armed forces. Where, during our flood emergency in 2007, has the bulk of help come from? From our police, diverted from their work fighting crime, and a mass of public spirited voluntees. Yet with thousands temporarily homeless, without water or electricity, when we could see the damage caused, we asked ourselves: "Could more have been done?". Yes, of course- had our Labour government not committed 98% of our armed forces to the unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The British armed forces in Iraq live under the most atrocious conditions. The death rate of our soldiers in Iraq has now passed that of British soldiers killed in the second world war. Billions of pounds are being wasted on these unpopular wars which should have been available for the environmental crises that, with global warming, will inevitably become more frequent. A prominent Iraqi who supported the invasion of Iraq recently said: "I hated Saddam Hussein, but if he was to walk down the streets of Baghdad today, I would kiss his feet". If Gordon Brown could summon the courage to change course on these wars and confront global warming I would do the same to him".

Somehow, I don't think there's much chance that Mr Davies will ever be kissing the feet of Gordon Brown. But doesn't the comment from the prominent Iraq speak volumes about the horror of everyday life in "liberated" Iraq?