What Goo said, except I can think of a lot more things to do with John Howard than thank him. Most involving vats of sulfuric acid.
But y’all got to read Phillip Adams’ column in The Australian today to really appreciate what a fine job our great leader is doing.
That’s putting it mildly. It wasn’t until last night that I finally met (in the flesh) a compatriot who thinks we should be at war. And he didn’t want to talk about it much.
Ah, a polite attempt at recognizing the contributions of others is seized upon by the cowards and malcontents as yet another platform to spew their venom. Just another day on the SDMB.
p.s. I am well aware that there are other countries that make up the UK, you’d have noticed that I directed my thanks to England, Australia and Others if you could take a moment to actually read what people write instead of simply jumping in with your antiwar miasma.
It’s not anti-war miasma. If you had cursed just England for getting involved, my reaction would be the same.
England is one State within a conglomerate country that is called the UK. All foreign policy decisions are taken by the parliament of the UK, and Tony Blair is the Prime Minister of the UK.
We English should take neither all the credit, nor all the blame, for stuff that the UK does.
In fact, as any fule kno, it is famously thought that WAR is how the US teaches its citizens International Geography.
I couldn’t possibly comment.
Heh, I just thought of saying “That’s like thanking Texas and others for giving us this war…”
But that’s a bad analogy in many ways…
ok, Thanks to the UK! or Tony Blair, since I’m not supposed to thank nations. So a big hearty thanks to Tony Blair. Happy now?
Here in the US it is common to refer to the UK as England, it isn’t right of course, but it is the shorthand that is used. Much like calling the United States of America just “America.” Does saying America has gone to war mean that Mexico has gone to war too, since it is part of America? No. Most people recognize that America, though incorrect, is a common term applied to the United States of America and not to all the countries in the Americas.
I think this thanking countries thing is mainly an American thing.
I remember chatting online to some American girl when the Afganistan thing was still happening, and when she found out i was english she thanked me for the help the British were giving to the Americans! I didn’t quite know what to say, its not like i personally had ever had anything to do with it…
I guess its because Americans identify very strongly with their country, and assume others do the same.
Rhum Runner, maybe you should be thanking the respective governments (and those citizens who support their government actions). A lot of those who strongly oppose military action might be offended…
Top Tip: Please don’t do this when Scottish people are listening!
In my neck of the woods most people I’ve spoken to are supportive of the action, although mostly reluctantly. I still haven’t met anyone who has been so anti-war that they’ve bothered to go and protest about it.
I’m not here to spew any venom, but I don’t want your thanks. I reject them. You may offer your thanks, but if I don’t want them I fail to see how this makes me a coward or a malcontent.
Are you being purposely dense ? It is nothing like "calling the United States of America just ‘America’.
Why do it when you know it’s likely to cause offence to some – you want to piss people off on purpose ? Very bizarre attitude from a Canadian …
Gee, fly off the handle much?
Correcting a factual error that has been known to cause offence to Britons not born in England is pretty standard fare on these boards. I can see where you’ve made this interpretation, but please relax, it really is as simple as not conflating one part of the UK with the whole.
It is? I was not aware of that fact, and seeing that I happen to live in the US I find that hard to believe. The only people I see using that terminology are people who are unaware of the difference between the UK and England.
You should get out more. I was one of the more than a million who turned up in London to protest against the (possibility of) war in February. On the same day there were well-attended rallies in Glasgow and Belfast.
Thanks for the advice!
:rolleyes:
I’ll poke my head up from behind the sandbags, and say that this is a just, necessary war. No war is “good”, but some are necessary. This is one of them.
As an Australian, I greatly appreciate the sentiment of the OP, but can’t accept your thanks though. If I were a soldier, maybe. But I’m a mail sorter. Joe Average. I didn’t have anything to do with the decision, or with its execution.
Geez, the guys just wants to say thanks for the help and it opens up a can of worms.
Thanks
I think you’re right; I didn’t choose to be born here, it just happened; don’t get me wrong (people often get me wrong when I say this, - “why don’t you go somewhere else then?”, they ask, although often not so politely - maybe I could go somewhere else, but I don’t see what that would solve - I’d just be somewhere else) - it isn’t that I don’t like it here, it’s just that I didn’t consciously choose to be here at all.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,–
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this **Yewkay **
Next you’ll want Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” to be sung with “The United States of America and Overseas Territories” jammed into three notes!
To get back to the OP, I’d like to add my thanks to all those, regardless of what country they’re from, or what nation they hold allegiance to, who are helping to rid the world of Saddam Hussein and his ilk. Especially those who are risking their lives on the battlefield for the rest of us, but also those who are contributing tactical support, intelligence gathering, and so on.
I am saddened by the amount of vituperation that is directed at the United States instead of at Hussein. Why are the demonstrators not protesting his well-known violations of human rights? The ecological damage alone is horrifying.