Once Upon An Illegal War – Ten Years & Still Dying

In the year 2000 I became a US citizen for several reasons. One of which was that I felt if I wanted to have a say in what happens in the country in which  I chose to live, then I needed to vote. And 2000 was important because it was a Presidential election year. It was the year George W Bush was elected as President of the United States in a rigged vote in Florida.

So why did I want to have a say in the politics of the USA? Because I knew that George W Bush was going to take the world to war with Iraq.

How could I possibly know that?

Simple. I simply read the document put out by the Neo-Conservatives group, The Project for the New American Century,  entitled ‘Rebuilding Americas Defenses’ (http://bit.ly/YU5sDM). In it Neo-cons with Dubya’s, Cheney’s and Rumsfeld’s support lays the ground work for fighting multi-theatre wars especially in the Middle East against Iraq, and of course North Korea. Also I had spent my teenage years living in the Middle East as the son of a low level British MI6 intelligence gatherer.

War was on the agenda before 9/11. Well before. The Bush administration wanted to get rid of Saddam Hussein no matter what. They lied cheated and got their way despite that fact that over half the American people did not want to go to war.

Now ten years later, to the day as I write this, over 119,000 Iraq civilians have died. Over 4,000 American soldiers have died and over 30,000 American soldiers have been injured, most very seriously. Our VA hospitals are dealing with the traumatic affects of PTSD and February was the heaviest causality rate of ex-servicemen committing suicide.

In 2000 I was having a dinner with some friends. Republican to the core when I said that I really hoped that Bush would not win and when asked why I said that he would take this country to war with Iraq. Everybody left, looking at their watches and saying ‘oh my gosh is that the time?’.  Denial is a disease that needs to be eradicated and realism needs to take its place. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld lied and their lies caused over a hundred thousand deaths. Can anybody say ‘mass murderers?’

I was so incensed with the administration I wrote AN UNQUIET AMERICAN and even to this day, I have people who still deny that Bush lied; that weapons of mass destruction did not exist and think that killing one man, Saddam Hussein was worth the deaths of over one hundred thousand people.

Having been a soldier myself I know the sacrifice anyone who goes to war makes. Both physically and emotionally. It never leaves you, ever.

Al Qaeda did not exist in Iraq before this day ten years ago, now they virtually control the country. Well done Dubya, you succeeded in creating a terrorist hornets nest.

AN UNQUIET AMERICAN: amazon.com http://amzn.to/RL6mxC     amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/QNFZFZ

Book Reviewers & Critics – Who Needs Them?

We authors do, and not necessarily for the reasons that anyone would rationally think. We live in an irrational digital world, and with eBooks – especially when they are on ‘free days’ -  ‘Digital Babylon’ takes place. Downloads go through the roof and ‘opinions’, as they say, ‘are like assholes. Everybody’s got one’.

Every author wants his or her book to be well received. For praise to heaped upon it after all those thousands of hours of labour bringing it from conception to birth. But I am constantly reminded of what the editor of my first book, John Blackwell of Martin Secker & Warburg, said to me as a newly published author. “DON’T READ REVIEWS, THEY WILL ONLY MAKE YOU MAD. BELIEVE IN YOUR BOOK.” He was right but not completely, for there are many reviewers and critics out there who are thoughtful, constructive and are genuinely appreciative of the author’s work and effort, even if they do not necessarily like or agree with said work. They are the one’s that make us better writers. Their criticisms are like gold dust. We authors need to understand that with every succeeding book we are learning and growing in our craft.

Then there are those reviewers who did not read the book properly at all. Those that read a snippet and base their review on five hundred words, less than half the amount of this blog. And then there are those reviewers who like the story think it’s well written but vehemently disagree with a political stance and therefore give the book a single star, for political reasons not literary. It is those to whom I focus my contempt, and it’s not just me who thinks this way.

There is a quote – from an extraordinarily gifted and world renowned author – that I keep with me at all times, just to remind myself that I am not alone in feeling upset and angry at idiots, and it sums up my feelings.

“No creator can like critics. There is too much difference between the two activities. One is begetting, the other surgery. However justified the criticism, it is always inflicted by someone who hasn’t, a eunuch, on someone who has, a generator; by someone who takes no real risks on someone who stakes most of his being, economic as well as immortal.”  Fowles, John – Daniel Martin (p. 99).

This book is one of my favourites, along with The Magus and The Ebony Tower, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, The Collector. John Fowles is a towering figure in literature, and yet when I looked him up on Amazon and read the reviews of his books, I was outraged at some of the less than literate comments. Then it struck me. The readers who write such reviews usually do not put their full names, hiding their identities behind names like, ‘Brecon’ (one of my reviewers); ‘BobM’ (yet another) and ‘Caraculiambro’ who wrote of Daniel Martin “Lord I hate this book…” and finished “Still the uncontested champion of suckitude.” Gosh I never knew the word ‘sucktitude’ existed in the English language. Oh right. It doesn’t, I just checked my Oxford English Dictionary. So here we have a reviewer who claims to have read exceptional English prose who can’t even think of a word that actually exists in the language to describe his……. His what? Sucktitude?

I have had reviewer’s lambast me for not using a verb in a sentence. Well if you are writing a letter, or a business proposal, or a technical work then using the grammar tool in Microsoft Word might work for you, but creative writing is just that. Creative. And Microsoft Word’s grammar tool cannot cope with that. As an example, I direct you to another of my favourite author’s, JP Donleavy who wrote The Ginger Man, A Singular Man, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, Meet my Maker the Mad Molecule, The Onion Eaters….. there are many more. In some of his books, particular the hilarious A Singular Man, verbs are almost non-existent. It is called ‘pushing the boundaries’. Creating a time, place and space with words and verb free sentences.

My first book, CONTACT, was written in a stream of consciousness style. It is a true account of my two tours in Northern Ireland during the 1970s. Before I submitted the manuscript for publication I gave it to several soldiers with whom I had served, and asked them to read it and tell me if they agreed with what I had written and that it was a true reflection of our experiences during those two tours. They read the manuscript and urged me to publish, which of course I did. Now this is what ‘BobM (Long Island NY)’ wrote on amazon.com about CONTACT:

“This book seemed more like a therapeutic exercise for the writer than a truthful story of what the British troops did in Northern Ireland and the way they conducted themselves, I hope putting all of this in writing helped the author. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.”

Interesting. Now this is what another reviewer, a British Soldier, wrote on the amazon.co.uk site:

“i am an ex soldier who served in northern ireland during the troubles and this is an excellent account of what it was like. i only wish we had an officer like captain clarke.” (reproduced exactly as it appears on amazon.co.uk)

So one reviewer was someone who had no experience of soldiering in Northern Ireland, BobM; and the other, PM, a soldier who actually served there. Now I am sure that BobM probably has a political motive for his review, and if he does, he might like to know that I have met former terrorists on both sides of the conflict who read CONTACT while they were serving life sentences for murder (later released under the Amnesty Terms of the Good Friday Agreement). All said the book was a valuable addition to the history of ‘The Troubles’. I was also invited to visit Derry – the scene of Bloody Sunday – by the City Council, to take part in an Exhibition at the museum and talk to members of the public.

My point is that many people have personal opinions that, for the most part, have nothing to do with the veracity of the book they are reviewing. They simply want a chance to unload. That approach is not useful criticism to future readers, or to an author.

The beauty of ‘Digital Babylon’, is that now we authors have a way to respond to ridiculous reviewers through our own author websites and blogs. Devices that did not exist when I was first published in hardcover.

Lastly, reviews of eBooks are essential for sales. It’s a numbers game. Good reviews and bad reviews are equally important because bad reviews add credibility to good reviews. If every review is good, then seeds of suspicion are sown amongst potential readers. And this is where the irrationality of the eBook age shows itself.

But to those reviewers who feel they can happily bask in anonymity, Amazon also rates reviewers, a fact that those anonymous reviewers might heed next time they feel the urge to write inane comments that bear no resemblance whatever to the book they are supposedly reviewing. I can live with a bad review if it is written with intelligence, knowledge and humanity. What I cannot abide is ignorance, or spite. Two examples come to mind regarding my book AN UNQUIET AMERICAN:

“This political thriller is superbly written and for much of it the reader could be forgiven for thinking he or she had picked up the latest from Le Carré. Certainly the main character, Rufus Read, is pure Le Carré. His toying with his captors is brilliantly written and his reminiscences packed with fascinating and very disturbing facts. As someone who has spent many years in Hong Kong, I can certainly attest to the accuracy of the parts of the book located there…….” by David George Clarke. (No relation)

Then the antithesis:

“As I write I am only in the first quarter of the book, so it may improve. That said, I’m really having a hard time getting into the story as the characters are so vague and rambling. Hoping it gets better soon, or I’ll never finish. If it improves, I will revise review.” Lynda – Greensboro GA.

I wonder if Lynda read the same book as David. Interesting.

Having rambled on about this topic for long enough, there was also one other thing John Blackwell said, which I think is perfectly adapted to the eBook age. I had, in my youthful arrogance, questioned the importance of the cheap, badly written romance novels. John put me in my place. “The important thing is,” he said. “That those ‘cheap’ books invite people to read and the more people that read, the better.” 

As a corollary, a friend of mine stopped reading years ago because, in this day and age, lugging heavy books around got tedious and expensive. Last year I introduced him to eBooks and he has regained his love of reading becoming an avid reader on his iPhone and iPad. So long live eBooks and ‘Digital Babylon’.

CONTACT: amazon.com http://amzn.to/QTXvdk    amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/OneXZi

AN UNQUIET AMERICAN: amazon.com http://amzn.to/RL6mxC    amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/QNFZFZ

One Day – Three Anniversaries

On this day, March 1st, and a decade apart, three things happened that changed my life forever.

On this day in 1973 my second daughter was born. A trying and emotional birth because on that day, an hour after the birth, I was on my way to Belfast, Northern Ireland, starting my first tour with the 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment. ‘The Troubles’ were really ramping up and it would be nearly three months before I returned on R&R for a few days and saw my daughter for the second time. To my children I was a stranger. A father who was barely at home and had changed in the three months as a result of riots and gun-battles, bombs and bullets.

As a result of these experiences, ten years later, in 1983, my first book, CONTACT, was published in hardback by Martin Secker & Warburg and launched my career as an author.

Overnight I became the, unintended, voice of soldiers serving in Northern Ireland. As one reviewer wrote at the time, no other first time author could have boasted the media coverage I received. Television, newspapers, radio all over the world. And I was completely unprepared. As far as I was concerned I had written a very personal account of my feelings during times of extreme stress and fear, as well as euphoric relief. CONTACT is not an ‘action’ book, there are many of those – mostly fiction – it is a book about the deeply personal emotions of a combat soldier.

Emotions that began on that day in 1973 when my daughter was born and, as a young officer, I left my family to begin my first combat tour of duty.

Now, forty years to the day, CONTACT is selling well in its new eBook edition. My daughter is celebrating her birthday with her husband and three children, and I reflect on how lucky I am to be alive and be able, through the digital age, to share my experiences with a new generation of soldiers and their families as they embark on the challenges of tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places around the world.

My story is their story.

A different time.

A different place, but still the same story.

Over the years I have wondered about the value of writing CONTACT and having to hold true to what I put on paper in the face of the controversy and media attention it attracted– but having received many letters, particularly from family members of soldiers serving in combat zones, who said that after reading CONTACT they now had a better understanding of what their son, daughter, husband, brother or sister have been through, I feel every minute and word was worth it. For most combat veterans, talking about their experiences is impossible. It is a confusing and frightening jumble of events and emotions that have no place in civilian life. Through writing I was able, to some extent, to explain to myself the conflicting emotions that flow through all veterans. To say that writing ‘saved me’ would not be far from the truth.

On this anniversary, I still have conflicting emotions.

I value and miss the camaraderie of my brothers-in-arms, many of whom are no longer here. I miss the excitement and yet shy from the fear. I still wonder if I was really any good at my job; whether at any time I let down those under my command, but even now I still get emails and Facebook comments that confirm that writing and publishing CONTACT was one of the best decisions made, not by me, but by my mother, who saw its value when I couldn’t. When I read it, I squirm because there are many ways I would have written it differently. Or at least I think I would, but then it was written with raw emotion and maybe that’s what makes me squirm.

On this anniversary, I celebrate my daughter’s birth.

I thank my mother for encouraging me to submit my first completed book for publication, and for John Blackwell and Peter Grose at Martin Secker & Warburg for taking a chance on me.

And I thank those soldiers with whom I served for their support, loyalty and friendship over the last forty years.

CONTACT: amazon.com http://amzn.to/QTXvdk    amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/OneXZi

On this Day………

Recently I was asked by an eBook site, called Free Book Dude – I love the name – to do a guest article for them. I thought long and hard and then realised that on this day, March 1st, it was forty years ago – March 1st 1973 – that my second daughter was born and an hour after her birth, I went to Northern Ireland for my first tour with The 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment as a young platoon commander. It was three months before I saw her again on R&R.

And it was on March 1st 1983, thirty years ago that, CONTACT – the book of my two tours in Northern Ireland – was published and became an instant bestseller. It is still selling well thirty years later in the new eBook edition.

The article can be read at http://bit.ly/XtmPKM it will be only on for today today for those who wish to read it on the site. I will post it here tomorrow for those who wish to wait.

To commemorate these anniversaries the eBook Kindle edition of CONTACT is on sale for 0.99c US and 0.77p UK from the 1st to 7th.

CONTACT: amazon.com http://amzn.to/QTXvdk    amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/OneXZi

Drones, Torture & Confirmation Hearings – The Bush/Cheney Legacy

Recently I was asked a really good question on twitter by a follower who had just read my book AN UNQUIET AMERICAN.

“I just read Unquiet Am and wonder: how do you feel/would you write now after 4 years of same policies plus drones etc?”

I think a brief explanation of the book is in order for those who have not yet read it.

AN UNQUIET AMERICAN, is a novel based on my military experiences, and living in many countries around the world. It also traces the history of the United States Foreign policies in Korea, Vietnam, Suez and other countries around the world, tackles current foreign policy issues, torture, and the establishment and growth of Israel from 1948 to 2008.  The narrative is mostly seen through the eyes of a former British Special Forces Officer who has been illegally kidnapped from his home in California and renditioned to a foreign country, but also through the eyes of others on the world stage, Jew, Roman Catholic, Muslim and politicians with the Federal Government.

I am unrepentant regarding my opposition to a pre-emptive war, that was started with false evidence by the Bush-Cheney administration and from which our men and women in uniform still suffer either physically or mentally. I oppose the establishment of states in existing countries and the genocide of the people who have lived there for a thousand years.

In the 2008 election campaign John McCain pretty much said he would attack Iran, or at least sanction an attack in support of Israel, over the Iran nuclear fuel issues, but in contrast we never prevented Israel from creating nuclear weapons, dozens of them. The election of President Obama stymied much of Israel’s plans. Had John McCain been in the White House I seriously think that right now we would be at war with Iran.

So the Obama administration inherited two very unpopular wars, an economy that had just imploded and a Republican Party who were devastated that their guy lost to an African American. Torture was off the table in the new administration. Extraordinary Rendition was off the table. And there was a promise to end the wars and bring our troops home. However there were (and are) still terrorists out there wanting to do harm. There was (and is and now even more so) a very hawkish Israeli Government who has no interest in either a peace deal in the Middle East or a Palestinian State.

For those unfamiliar with Middle Eastern history, Israel was Palestine before 1948 with a near 90% majority of Arab land ownership over Jews. European and US Jews in the Governments of the USA, UK and France ensured that Palestine was handed over to European Jews and renamed Israel. And by the way, there are many Jewish groups who are vehemently anti-Zionist and anti the State of Israel. In the recent election cycle, Neftali Bennett a right wing politician urged that a law be passed to force Orthodox Jews, a great many of whom are Anti-Zionist, to be forced to join the Israel Defence Force, thereby forcing them to defend a State to which they are opposed. He also demanded the takeover of the West Bank and all other Palestinian land.

Now before the right wing idiots get going, I am not an apologist for Terrorism. I have fought and lost men and been disabled fighting terrorism. However terrorism takes many forms and sometimes everyone should just take a step back and ask themselves ‘if I was deprived of my land, my parents, my brother and sister were slaughtered and I was forced into exile in a refugee camp which was then the subject to an attack that killed the rest of my family and friends, how would I feel.’ Reasoned discourse means knowing the real facts, not revisionist history. It means, reason, research and knowledge, not histrionics and false claims of anti-semitism.

Why the concentration on Israel? Because the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 created a dangerous and unstable world. (Read Robert Fisk’s article http://ind.pn/11SIsIz) The truth is that almost all our entire Foreign Policy is predicated on what happens in the Middle East. Our relationship with our trading partners, with China, with Russia, with Asian countries, is threatened by our policies in the Middle East as is our economy. The philosophy of democracy is that the majority rule, and yet we are held hostage by a minority state that we created and who do not wish us well if we do not abide by their terms. To quote Uri Avnery ”America controls the world, we control America. Never before have Jews exerted such an immense influence on the centre of world power.” This statement clearly states that America is a Paper Tiger. A mouth-piece for extreme Zionists. We do not decide our own fate, it is decided for us and our men and women in uniform suffer the consequences of our obsequiousness.

So to the Confirmation hearings and how this all ties together. Republicans are going to give Chuck Hagel – a Republican nominee for the job of Secretary of Defence – a hard time because of his views on Israel because he said that his duty lies to the United States of America and not to Israel. His pro Israel detractors ignore his selfless service to the country as a Vietnam Veteran and his knowledge of Military affairs.  They are also going after John Brennan who has been tapped for CIA Director, because of his job in the CIA under the Bush/Cheney Administration. But only halfheartedly because they don’t want to stir up the illegal torture, illegal extraordinary rendition, and illegal wire-tap debates all over again, instead they want to ‘investigate’ the legality of Obama Administration’s Drone policy as a civil-rights issue.

Now call me stupid, but drones were around from the Clinton era, all the way though two terms of Bush and now one term of Obama. Militarily they are a way to strike at terrorists surgically. Drones have kept our troops safe. Drones allow us to reduce the number of ‘boots-on-the-ground’, and as a former combat Paratrooper, I am happy that drones are in our arsenal. If the investigation is purely about whether it is legal for drones to be employed against targets in other countries, such as Yemen and Pakistan, that is another matter altogether, but whoever is asking the question better be sure that they have their facts absolutely right and are not just on some political crusade. A great example of where a drone strike was not used, was the raid on Osama bin Laden, because the administration wanted to avoid the casualties that would be caused to women and children in the compound.

But there is another drone issue, and that is to do with surveillance drones in the USA used by Police to monitor civilian activity. We have had satellite surveillance for decades, and Police Helicopters overhead in all our major cities. So is the small quiet drone really an infringement of our civil liberties or just another tool for Law Enforcement?

We certainly bitch about helicopter spotlights turning our night-time streets into daylight, but that’s as far as our whining goes. Of course what we don’t bitch about is the infra-red also used by the same helicopters, because we can’t see infra-red. We invite millions of people into our lives thousands of times a day through Social Media on the Internet, exulting in how many hits our YouTube video got of our child singing a song and yet the very thought of a silent drone overhead freaks us out.

It seems absurd to me that there are those who piously demand a debate about drones and yet shy away from a sensible discussion about firearms.

Part of the whole problem is that we still live under the dark cloud of the Bush/Cheney Legacy of Government being able to flout the Law because it says it can. That upsets us, and rightly so.

Illegal wire-taps are just that – Illegal.

Illegal search and seizure, is just that – Illegal.

Illegal extraordinary rendition is just that – Illegal.

All Governments are accountable to the People, not to their own whims. A transparent Government is what we have been promised, and that is what I hope for and what we deserve.

To get back to the reader’s twitter question. I have thought and continue to think about our foreign and domestic policies, and am in the process of writing the sequel to AN UNQUIET AMERICAN which focuses on both, set in the 2012 election year. Too often politics and policies become sound bytes, or regurgitated press releases thrown out by a media that lives by the philosophy ‘If it Bleeds it Leads’. Sensationalism sells on TV, print, radio and the Internet. We are a ‘Fast Food Philosophy’ world, where reasoned argument and extensive research are not words people say, or actions they take. I research my books carefully, consider the arguments and put them forward in a story that I hope makes people think. It is up to the reader from that point onwards.

A big thank you to my twitter follower for the question. It made me think.

AN UNQUIET AMERICAN: amazon.com http://amzn.to/WsT1iR     amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/QNFZFZ

Gov. Chris Christie – The Only Republican with any Courage

A few days ago I wrote a blog about families, responsibilities, violence and children. It was before the NRA decided to release perhaps the most disgraceful, ill-informed and certainly childishly petulant advertising/dis-infomercial about President Obama’s children’s security detail that I have ever had the misfortune to see.

And the only Republican who has had the courage to stand up and denounce the NRA dis-infomercial is Governor Chris Christie.

There is also the totally false claim by the NRA supporters that the Second Amendment is about citizens of the USA arming themselves so that they can fight the Government. Now I have read the Second Amendment many times, but nowhere does it say that the reason for arms is to fight the Government of the USA. What they have done is to link the Second Amendment (which was written in 1791) to the Declaration of Independence (written in 1776) which says in the second paragraph:

 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

The Declaration of Independence was written long before the Constitution and the Amendments therein. There was and is no link between the Second Amendment and the Declaration of Independence, except in the minds of NRA crazies. Why would any Government draft a Bill that allowed them to be removed by force. That’s what happened during the Civil War, and look how many people died for that useless endeavour.

Any sane person would agree that in the twenty first century the sentence  ’That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,’ refers to voting. Every four years the people of this country can change the Government if they think the current Government doesn’t work for them. It doesn’t mean storm Congress with guns blazing.

The dis-infomercial put out by the NRA and slammed by Gov. Chris Christie, shows just how morally bankrupt, educational ignorant, socially dysfunctional and immature the NRA and its supporters truly are when they put owning military style assault rifles and semi-automatic high powered handguns ahead of our children and the majority of our society. How proud they must be.

And to cap it all, a .22 handgun, an ammunition clip and a flare gun were found in the backpack of a 7 year old at a New York City public school. Now what parent does not check the backpack of any school kid?

We need more Republicans to have the courage of Governor Chris Christie to stand up against the NRA and its dangerous stupidity. More guns on our streets means more guns in the hands of those who would do us all harm. There is overwhelming support for guns laws to be revised and for an assault weapons ban.

To all NRA supporters, in this democracy, We The Majority People Decide what happens, not You the Minority.

Do Family Break-Ups Breed Violence?

For the past month we have heard so much about family relationships, but in a way I don’t think anyone expected.

The slaughter of 20 children and 6 adults in an elementary school, has become a club for various groups to use to bludgeon others into accepting their own point of view. The NRA this last week used dysfunctional family relationships, and psychiatric problems to insist that everyone should be armed to the teeth, but did not address the issue that the shootings took place with weapons that were legally bought and kept in a home that was already under duress, where a psychologically disturbed young man was taught to shoot by his divorced mother, with the blessing of the Second Amendment.

So what has happened to good old fashioned family relationships and the responsibility of parents? Why have we become a society that seeks to ignore family problems rather than deal with them. Arming everyone in the country does nothing except make more guns available to problem children (or adults) within families, as so many gun death shootings has shown.

As a twice-divorced father of four daughters, I have seen the effects fragmented families have on children. And the blame that is bandied around amongst children and parents in an attempt to make sense of a secure family suddenly ripped asunder can often be the most damaging, and can creep into the psyche and behavior of all concerned over many years in an insidious way. Sure there may seem to be real reasons that divorce becomes the only way to move forward, but it behooves each and every one of us to consider the ramifications of such a move on their children, and to act to mitigate those effects as best we can in a very considered and conscious way.

For myself, after two tours in Northern Ireland I left the Army having lost my entire large bowel and with no idea that I also had PTSD. It was not even discussed back in the 1970s. The irrational anger I felt, constant fear, and secretive behaviour were just some of the signs. After eight years in the Army I was not the person I was when I was first married. I knew that I had to do something, to take some action and at that time all that I felt I could do was to take myself, and my anger, out of the home.

Many years have passed since I was in the Army, there’s more understanding of the effect of PTSD and support for veterans coming home having to deal with returning to a “normal life”.  Those years have also provided me more time for introspection and reading and discussing these issues as well.

A question I have asked myself, is do children also suffer from PTSD as a result of a family break-up? It is an immensely traumatic time and it seems little has been done to analyze the real effects of divorce on young children. If studies have been completed why do we not see more emphasis on counseling the children of divorced parents, even before the final break-up?

As I am apt to do, I use my writing to better understand the world.  And so, to try and understand some of the feelings of guilt, blame and utter betrayal and sense of abandonment, I wrote my fictional novel DRY TORTUGAS and dedicated it to my daughters. The novel is not about my particular family experience, (I care about and respect my ex-wives a great deal), but it does highlight the kind of emotional impact and turmoil that’s typical of many family breakups. I was not seeking forgiveness in writing the book, just trying to reach a personal understanding so that I can better relate to my daughters, and to their mothers. Whether I have succeeded or not is for them to decide.

Through writing this novel I became aware of the extreme damage that can done to children, which can express itself in many different ways. Most often violence is at the core – the need to lash out either emotionally through verbal abuse, or physically through violent behaviour and acts. Girls seem to act out through verbal attacks and boys physically. And then there’s the secrecy about the past which the father in DRY TORTUGAS, Jake, lives to regret. He thinks he’s doing his daughter a favor by not revealing what actually happened when he suddenly left the family home when she was 3 years old. Instead he learns that all he has done is create a huge missing link in her heart and mind, and taken himself out of being in her life in any significant way for over 20 years.  When they do finally meet, it might all be too late.

I am not a psychiatrist, nor a psychologist, just a father who has seen the real psychological effects of his actions by leaving home. Parents have an awesome responsibility, at times a crushing responsibility, and as a society I think it is more important than ever that we find a way to support our families and create a positive social context within which families can make the decisions they need to make. This becomes more urgent with more young fathers, like myself those many years back, returning from combat with severe physical injuries and PTSD. More important as both parents have to work and spend less time with their children. More important as technological advances replace conversation and the traditional “sitting around the table eating a meal together and talking about the day and life in general”.

As the modern fragmented family becomes even more of a way of life, what’s important is how we deal with that. Divorce will happen, relationships that are not healthy will break down, and it might be best they do – BUT – that does not mean giving up responsibility, it does mean that as a parent you have to work much harder to ensure the bruising emotional time does not do more damage.

If we continue to live in a society where PTSD is ignored, where mental health problems are swept under the table as shameful, where mental health services are only accessible by those who have paid for health care, or where guns are freely available, we will continue to see incidents such as Sandy Hook and the even greater fragmentation of families with devastating consequences.

DRY TORTUGAS was my attempt to understand the damage I personally may have caused through my own selfish actions and utter ignorance, and was written to show that that damage can, for the most part, be avoided. I am grateful that my daughters have not forsaken me, and for the most part, I hope, forgiven me for leaving them at a time when they most needed a father.

DRY TORTUGAS: amazon.com http://amzn.to/13oMXJl    amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/11oj3Gs

“America was born on Guns & Whiskey”

The title is a quote from Conservative Radio Host Alex Jones who appeared on Piers Morgan’s show and accused the British journalist of being engaged in “a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment”. Of course the seemingly less than intelligent Jones seems to have conveniently forgotten about the First Amendment which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (Please note that when I quote any Amendment to the Constitution, I do it in full, unlike the NRA or gun activists who never quote the Second Amendment in full.)

I wonder what part of ‘Freedom of Speech, or of the Press’ Mr. Jones does not understand as he petitions to have Piers Morgan deported for his anti-gun stance. Mr Jones also goes on to say “It’s true we’re a violent society”, as if he is proud of that fact.

So a violent society, according to Mr. Jones, should have ample access to high velocity semi-automatic assault rifles, handguns that will “blow your head clean off”, to quote from the film Dirty Harry, and maybe a hand-held rocket launcher if Justice Scalia has his way.

What makes Americans so afraid that they feel they have to arm themselves to the teeth? Are they taught at home to fear everything and everybody and that violence is the only answer to any problem?

Councilman Neil Sorensen, of Spring City Utah, wants every citizen in his town, all 1,000 of them, to be armed. One resident of the town has 78 guns. In my day in the Parachute Regiment in combat that would have armed two platoons, about sixty soldiers in all. What on earth is one person doing with 78 guns?

It seems that people like Alex Jones, Neil Sorensen and the guy that owns 78 guns long for the days of the Wild West, where they can shoot first and ask questions later. What sort of education are their children having, being brought up in households where it is mandatory to own a gun because their parents are so afraid of somebody coming in and shooting them? So the answer to this National Fear, is to arm every single citizen in the country with multiple firearms, because you know that no self-respecting NRA member or Hicksville gun-toting southern violence loving citizen, is just going to buy one gun for self-defence.

There are already enough guns floating around the USA to arm every single citizen. That would be over 300 million killing instruments.

There must be a better way to safely secure our homes, such as education, training, alarm systems and proper neighborhood policing, than to simply arm everyone. But then again according to Alex Jones plenty of guns and whiskey should do the trick. What a great example for our children.

Northern Ireland – The Rise of the Militants – Again

The sectarian violence that continues to simmer beneath the surface in Northern Ireland, boiled over yet again as protests raged over a flag. The decision to remove the Union Flag from the city hall in Belfast seemed innocuous enough. Half the country is Nationalist and half Unionist, so why should the Unionist’s dictate which flag flies over City Hall in a power sharing government.

In Scotland, three flags fly outside Parliament. The Scottish Saltire, the Union Flag and the EU flag. And there are protests there, but non-violent.

Flags are symbols, and everyone has an opinion as to which flag should be flown, but resorting to violence seems to me that the flag issue in Northern Ireland is simply an excuse for the militants and those fostering a continuing hatred in their hearts to destroy the power sharing Government of Northern Ireland and plunge the nation into bloodshed once more.

In the 1970s I was sent to Northern Ireland as an Officer in the Parachute Regiment for tours tours, in 1973 and 1976, described in my best selling book CONTACT.  Hatred and violence raged in some of the bloodiest months in Irish history as the Nationalist Provisional IRA and the Unionist Ulster Volunteer Force along with other Unionist paramilitary groups such as the Shankill Butchers, the Red Hand Gang and others, supported by the so-called non military Ulster Defence Association fought a sectarian war in the streets and countryside of a country that could pretty much fit into Los Angeles County in the USA.

In 1973 my company was deployed in the Unionist Shankill Road district of Belfast, where we had more incidents of rioting, and by far the biggest gun battle of the tour in that Unionist area, and not, as you might think, in the Nationalist areas that the rest of the Battalion patrolled.

The violence in Northern Ireland has never been solely the responsibility of the Provisional IRA, indeed British troops were initially called into Northern Ireland by the Catholic Civil Rights Movement whose members were being systematically arrested and killed by a renegade group of Police known as the B Specials.

And now we have Unionists instigating violent protest over the removal of the Union flag on top of Belfast City Hall because they do not want to share power with Nationalists. Historically, the Unionists are the interlopers in Northern Ireland, descendants of Protestants from Scotland, England and Wales, who were ‘Planted’ into Ireland to colonise the country and wrest the lands from the rightful owners during the monarchy of King James I of England. The idea was to ensure that Ireland would be loyal to the Protestant Monarchy. Of the original counties five – Derry, Antrim, Down, Armagh and Tyrone – make up Northern Ireland. And those descendants to this day continue to consider Northern Ireland their birthright as conquerors loyal to the British Crown.

A similar situation can be seen in Israel as Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe were poured into Palestine at the end of World War II, eventually taking over Arabs lands and destroying Arab villages as they created the State of Israel where once Palestine existed. Interestingly enough, the Parachute Regiment was also deployed into Palestine in 1947/8 and many were killed by Jewish paramilitaries fighting to rout Arabs from their villages. The consequences of both Plantations continue to this day and show no signs of diminishing.

Having had friends and colleagues killed in Northern Ireland, many injured including myself, I feel that I have a vested interest in pointing out this insanity over a flag on top of a building. Business investors are now withdrawing from Northern Ireland in the wake of the violence and if this continues, the economy will tank, unemployment will rise and we will be back to the situation of the 1970s when the roads ran with the blood of innocents as car bombs exploded around the city and armed gangs murdered civilians just because of their religious beliefs. You would have thought that we as Human Beings would have grown up by now, but sadly that is not the case.

Colonisation has never succeeded in the long term unless by total subjugation of the indigenous people and by genocide. Vietnam was handed back to the French to remain a colony by President Truman after WW2 even though Ho Chi Minh sent a personal letter pleading for Truman to allow Vietnam to become free and Independent State. Sixty Thousand American lives and millions of Vietnamese deaths later, the country is an Independent State.

Violence is a disease more dangerous than cancer, the refuge of idle hands and small minds and I for one have no idea how to cure the disease except to create economic stability. But those who live for violence will ensure that economic stability does not have a chance to take hold. It is up to a large majority of the People to decide which path they wish to travel. And that requires courage, compassion, understanding and compromise.

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Will the USA have a more Pragmatic Approach to Israel?

With the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defence one of he main issues that Neo-Conservatives have is his approach to Israel. They take issue with his statements: “I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator” and also “I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel.”

Israeli journalist, Uri Avnery wrote, ”America controls the world, we control America. Never before have Jews exerted such an immense influence on the centre of world power.” In his youth, Averny was an Irgun member and later sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81. Now he runs a peace movement in Israel. His writings are well worth reading and I have used his quote above in my book AN UNQUIET AMERICAN as one of my characters – a former Republican Senator, Jew and former Mossad Agent –  tries to reconcile his life and his politics.

Neo-Conservatives have dominated the Republican Party from the day George “Dubya” Bush became President. The British Foreign Secretary of the time, Jack Straw, the son of Jewish immigrants, said of Dick Cheney’s infamous Chief-of-Staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby “It’s a toss-up whether Libby is working for the Israelis or the Americans on any given day.” One wonders whether the same can be said of Eric Cantor, who no doubt will be one of those leading the charge to ensure that Chuck Hagel is not confirmed as the Secretary of Defence, perhaps because Hagel has called for a ‘Pragmatic’ approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a move that would not suit the Israeli hawks.

And pragmatism certainly seems to be something that neither Binyamin Netanyahu or Avigdor Lieberman, the two most powerful men in Israel and both extreme right-wingers, will embrace any time soon.

So is Israel once again trying to manipulate American politics through its ‘friends’ in the Republican Party to ensure that they can still control America as Uri Averny says? And is this something that the American People know anything about? Or do we have a chance to really run our own affairs and not be dictated to by a tiny country several thousand miles away?

The argument is not about Anti-Semitism, Racism or any other ‘ism’, it is about the Government of the United States of America being able to make its own policies after careful thought and not as a result of the manipulation of a small minority in this country by those who work for the Government of Israel.

Chuck Hagel said it like it should be. “I’m not an Israeli senator. I’m a United States senator.”  That should be reason enough for any Politician in this country to confirm him as Secretary of State for Defence.

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