Amazed, you are a grunt. A brother in arms. Do I read a Tiger too??

>> Given that keith quite often posts in a similarly intemperate style, I'm quite surprised to hear him claim to be a pacifist <<

He's also an enthusiastic supporter of George W. Bush and the religious/resource war in Iraq. I suspect Keith calls himself a pacifist for the same reason Philip Ruddock wears an Amnesty International badge.

I see a lot of these in this discussion: http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/centurion.htm

Just in case blairbar is still lurking …

‘The fact is that the electorate in this country through their elected members had opportunities to withdraw our involvement in numerous wars but never did.’

Except for Vietnam and Iraq, and by the look of things, a withdrawal from Afghanistan is only a matter of time, as opinion polls show that support has now dropped from majority to borderline support. And you may have heard me mention WWI :) – which is a classic case of the electorate reducing our war involvement through the ballot box … twice … and in doing so, saved arguably 10s of thousands of young Australian men’s lives.

Unlike in WWI, the people’s opposition to Iraq and Vietnam could not be completely gagged, censored, criminalised and expunged from the official Australian narrative. However, the revisionist propaganda machine is certainly trying very hard – as with this essay.

amazed

You are a true son of Australia. It's makes me all goose bumpy to know that the many millions spent on Anzac propaganda over the last century has found such a receptive mind.

"Just in case blairbar is still lurking"
Just grow up SJF.

blairbar

'"Just in case blairbar is still lurking"
Just grow up SJF.'

So you WERE lurking.