Quote ="anarkik"Wasn't he just pointing out that sometimes they're asked to do things which have nothing to do with our 'freedoms', including curtailing the 'freedoms' of others, or indulging the wishes of elites who would never go anywhere near a battlefield. I have no idea why anyone who claimed to understand or value freedom would find that either distasteful or disrespectful, or want him banned, unless of course they had no sense of irony or were trying to find some reflected glory in nationalistic posturing.
Personally I stood and applauded them, and the more of them I am able to applaud for coming home the better, I applauded their courage and valour and the fact that their families have got them back again. But I think it's about time we stopped sending children to fight and die in remote lands which no invading force has ever been able to conquer and without defined goals or an exit strategy.'"
Lot of sympathy with that - although remember that unlike Iraq, our troops are in Afghanistan totally legally and under a UN mandate - big difference. But you yourself have eloquently explained the difference between applauding the men and having serious reservations - or objections to - the mission. What people clearly found distasteful and disrespectful is TM's seeming failure to make that distinction, and demonstrating his objection to the latter by not showing respect to the former: "they are part of the machine that have sent thousands of innocent people to their deaths in the past few years.".
So no, IMO he was not just "pointing out..." as you put it, and I suggest your second sentence is more than a little disingenuous.
