November 8, 2009
　
Dedicated to W.M.Parkinson
　
All over the United Kingdom, on Sunday 8th November 2009, people remembered the names of those who have died in conflicts, which have each involved the British armed forces.

People lined the streets across the country, where proud soldiers marched on by, when for one day out of the year the country embraced the slogan "lest we forget", a hidden maxim which for many in Britain bares no consequence or even obtains a reaction.

But what are we being asked to remember, after the names of the dead from the first and second world wars are read out? Where among the throng of so-called dignitaries, silent prayers will be given in guilt, to those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We are asked to remember the names of those soldiers killed, but not once will an explanation be given as to the reasons why their lives were taken. In Afghanistan, British soldiers have died because two aeroplanes flew into the Twin Towers in the USA. In Afghanistan, soldiers have died, like the ordinary Afghans, not even for the illusion of Freedom and Democracy but because Tony Blair wanted to prove his commitment to the "special relationship" he had with George W Bush.

Of course there was also the excuse of wanting to trumpet the cause of "fighting terrorism", through the creation of a power vacuum which has since engulfed Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Palestine, who have each since witnessed the dramatic growth of terrorism and indeed the increase of fundamentalism around the world.

"Lest we forget", that it was the reaction to the Afghan invasion, which saw the terror attacks on the London tube station, a day which has been marked as the much toned down British 9/11. That with the bombs being detonated in an ethnically diverse city, it took the bravery of civilians and the emergency services to literally pick up the pieces, as "our boys" were off fighting the fight inside of Afghanistan and Iraq.

And what about Iraq, the fact that British soldiers have also died, that if you look at much of the British media today in 2009, you would think that there had never even been an invasion or occupation. "Lest we forget" that over 179 British servicemen and one million Iraqi’s have died because the British government have not been held to account, for publically lying about allegations relating to weapons of mass destruction and the US myth of Saddam being involved in 9/11.

But still we will continue to remember what has been, what is and ultimately what will be when the clocks strike the eleventh hour on the 11/11/2009, the day which will mark the official anniversary of Armistice day. And after we have cherry picked our pride in the role of our armed forces, who are being sent to the four corners of the earth in pursuit of phantoms and weapons, which according to the Prime Minister in 2002, could be launched in "45 minutes", lest we forget remembering the names of the dead.

So when the marchers have marched on by and we have all gone home, having done our patriotic duty for the day, a new dawn will emerge and more than likely we will have forgotten the promise we made only a few hours earlier, that "lest we forget" the reasons why they have died in our names.

And from the name of the dead soldier through to that of the civilian, to actually remember is the act that will take the greatest courage, which has the potential of moving mankind forward into acknowledging the crimes which have each been committed over the past few years, and once there is the real acknowledgment of this enormity, it is then that we can truly remember the names of the dead, while resting in the lands of liberated nations.