Captain Philip Gardner, VC � �Pip� Gardner � won the Victoria Cross in what many would regard as the classic way: saving the life of a comrade under enemy fire, so placing his own life in dire risk. He had already been awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the battle of Halfaya Pass, and was captured at the fall of Tobruk. During one period of privation as prisoners of war, he and his comrades decided that their conditions were still marginally better than the poor of London during the blitz and organised a collection to ease their distress.
one of the 16 living holders of the Victoria Cross has died. his obituary in The Times should be required reading for all Americans, especially those politicians clamoring for war, none of whom possess even a measure of his nobility of spirit.
{lest anyone get the wrong impression, there are many of us who are not opposed to war or fighting or killing or whatever you wish to call it, on philosophical grounds.
the idea of going to war to preserve the lifestyle of greedy swine is morally untenable for most of us however.
the same dull-witted arguments get made over and over, as though anyone who despises fundamentalist christian dogma must therefore be opposed to the teachings of Jesus, as though someone nauseated by the inept and bewildered thuggishness of current American policies must somehow be opposed to American ideals of liberty and equality.
I personally am in complete disagreement with the men who now run America. and would, if I was forced to choose, rather be killed by them, than be killed for them.
I am not opposed to war. I am opposed to this war.}
