Detta tal framförde Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins till sina soldater (1st Battalion/Royal Irish) innan de gav sig av in i Irak.
Fanns att läsa i The Times den 22 mars. Helt klart ett av de bättre talen som finns på pränt i sin genre, IMHO:

EDIT: verkar finnas på nätet i ett par olika versioner (vissa paragrafer omkastade). Behåller dock Times-varianten.

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"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his Nemesis and that we are
bringing about his rightful destruction. There are many regional
commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires
of Hell for Saddam. As they die they will know their deeds have brought
them to this place. Show them no pity. But those who do not wish to go
on that journey, we will not send. As for the others, I expect you to
rock their world.

We go to liberate, not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their
country. We are entering Iraq to free a people, and the only flag that
will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Don't treat them as
refugees, for they are in their own country.

I know men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts. They live
with the mark of Cain upon them. If someone surrenders to you, then
remember they have that right in international law, and ensure that one
day they go home to their family. The ones who wish to fight, well, we
aim to please. If there are casualties of war, then remember, when they
woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this
day. Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly, and mark their
graves.

You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest, for your
deeds will follow you down history. Iraq is steeped in history. It is
the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood, and the birth of
Abraham. Tread lightly there. You will have to go a long way to find a
more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis. You will be
embarrassed by their hospitality, even though they have nothing ...

There may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.
We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will
be no time for sorrow. Let's leave Iraq a better place for us having
been there.

Our business now, is north."

Kan bara instämma, och jag är imponerad!

Det kanske ändå finns vissa fördelar med att, som britterna, ha officerare med riktig universitetsutbildning...

Varför är det alltid brittiska officerare som har otroligt fräcka och bra tal? Amerikanerna har bara sitt cowboy snack och hur dom ska krossa alla. britterna har så mycket mer finess.

Med största sannolikhet så är det en talskrivare som har totat ihop det där talet.


Annars så gillar jag det här talet:

"Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you've heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. ALL REAL Americans, love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers . . . Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in #### for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. Now, an army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post, don't know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating. Now we have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit, and the best men in the world. You know . . . My God, I actually pity those poor bastards we're going up against. My God, I do. We're not just going to shoot the bastards, we're going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel. Now some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you'll all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood, shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo, that a moment before was your best friends face, you'll know what to do. Now there's another thing I want you to remember. I don't want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We're not holding anything, we'll let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly, and we're not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose, and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the #### out of him all the time, and we're going to go through him like crap through a goose. Now, there's one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home, and you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you're sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you, "What did you do in the great World War Two?" You won't have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana." Alright now, you sons of bitches, you know how I feel. Oh! . . . I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That's all."
General George S. Patton, Jr.
3rd Army speech
England, 31 May 1944
6th Armored Division

Man blir ju tårögd av det andra talet (a stench of sarchasm is upon us)

Möjligt, men jag är inte så säker på att en sketen bataljonchef i armén har en egen talskrivare.

Enligt Times är talet skrivet av Collins själv.

"A century hence, people will still be reading the speech written by
Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins, the 42-year-old commander of The Royal
Irish battle group, which he delivered to his troops in Kuwait on
Wednesday afternoon, just hours before they went into battle. Colonel
Collins has a history degree, but does not look like a poet. Readers of
The Times will have seen his photograph, in shades and combat gear, a
cigar clamped between his teeth. He has the air of a Rambo, but the
literary touch of a Rimbaud."



Betänk att killen har en universitetsexamen (vet ej vilken sort) i historia. Jag tror inte att hans adjutant skulle skriva bättre...

Det bara är så att britter ofta kan utrycka sig på ett otroligt raffinerat sätt. Amerikaner är oftast mycket mer direkta i sättet att prata och gillar mer ”pep talk” alla omklädningsrum före matchen samt ryggdunk. Det gäller ju inte bara militärer lyssna på skillnaden när Blair pratar och Bush… Att samma sak kan låta så annorlunda… Jag jobbar med både britter och amerikaner och reser i skytteltrafik mellan Sverige UK och USA och det är en sån otrolig skillnad och finess i UK i affärssammanhang på gott och ont då det är lättare att bli bort dribblad.

Sämre saker kan man få skrivet om sig...

George C. Scotts framförande av Pattons tal i introt till filmen Patton är tamefan det bästa jag har sett någonsin, förstår varför det blev en oskar för bästa manliga huvudroll.

Men britterna har ett mycket bättre sätt att uttrycka sig överlag, det brukar oftast bli en massa "blood´n gut´s" då jänkarna håller på.

För mer George C. Scott i militära kläder, så rekommenderas hans underbara rollprestation som General "Buck" Turgidson i Stanley Kubricks Dr. Strangelove.

Han kanske inte är så glad över det, han är visst lite anti-krig i största allmänhet. Men hans bästa skådespelarprestationer är trots allt i krigsfilmer.

Jag läste ett tag sedan att han själv ansåg att hans rollprestation i Dr. Strangelove var hans bästa någonsin. Sedan så är väl knappast Dr. Strangelove den mest pro-war:iga filmen som gjorts genom tiderna.

Och där bryter vi och går vi tillbaks till ämnet tack.

/Blågul.

Tycker talet har lite anstrykning av talet av Shakespeare. "We band of brothers osv osv". Fast detta tal är skrivet/talat av en som verkligen var med.