Adebayor's started so well for Man City
GI David and Teacher Thom
Some of you thought I was too sympathetic today towards the American solider. David Bellavia has written a book about the bloody house-to-house fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Several of you emailed/texted to say he was simply spouting propaganda.
It may be useful to let you into our thought processes when we invited Staff Sgt Bellavia onto the programme. We'd taken the view that we've had many many debates on the rights and wrongs of the war in Iraq; as you know we've covered the issues of WMD/oil/Saddam's regime/the deaths of innocent civilians/the deaths of coaltion troops regularly - and for once we wanted a soldier simply to tell his story. It's pretty rare to hear the voice of someone actually involved in day-to-day combat, someone who didn't have a choice about going to war because that's what his commander-in-chief wanted. So we thought today might be an occasion where the arguments about the war shouldn't dominate, as they often do. But hey, maybe we made the wrong call...let me know.
Meanwhile Thom (for that is how you spell his name) The Teacher is already on his way to becoming a star. He's our 28 year old newly qualified teacher who's started his first job at a comprehensive in Norwich. So far so good. He was scared on Day One but is settling in and his headteacher doesn't mind what he says on the radio. Or so Thom thinks...I'll try and get Thom to post on here too and I wouldn't mind having a look at some other teachers' blogs if you want to recommend some. He should be back on the programme again in a month or two to keep us up-to-date on what it's like being a teacher in Britain today.
Victoria
The only exception I took to an otherwise excellent programme was your asertion to David Bellavia that our servicemen and women get free accommodation etc 'What more do they want'?
It is incumbent upon you to ensure that you get your facts right. Service men and women pay for their food and accommodation and indeed, have done so for many years. The paltry Council Tax rebate, which is being paid for out of the existing MOD budget will mean something else will have to go. I might also add that prisoners get a far better deal than our forces.
I listened to the programme (I'm on my day off so I actually had a chance to listen for once).
I really wish we could listen to radio at work as I can honestly say it's superb radio. I was in floods of tears at the poor parents of Rosemary.
Excellent, thoughtful broadcasting and the 大象传媒 should be proud.
i thought your interview was even handed. he was on to tell his specific story afterall and as a soilder he has to focus on his day o day survival out there.
alot of people against the war will take a pop at anything american. from the president down to an infrantryman.
keep up the good work
I listened to the the very interesting interview you did with Davis Bellavia and thought you were very even handed.
Personally the only time i got incensed was when the Irish caller tried take Mr Bellavia to task on civilian deaths and had his argument totally destroyed by Mr Bellavia as he knew his facts, as opposed to your caller who was just ( as usual it seems to me ) spouting anti coalition propaganda .By the way i am, and always have been, opposed to the war in Iraq just to make my own position absolutely crystal clear but opposition to the war is ill served by tactics as used by your caller.
Maybe you should take a stronger line with some of your callers instead of allowing them to spout totally unsubstantiated statistics into an otherwise interesting and informative interview.
I could not agree more with you Victoria on why you handled the interview with David Bellavia as you did. The media does not often give the soldier a chance to speak of his experience. Yet they are the ones called to go into battle, whether one approves of the Iraq war or not. As long as this war has lasted, longer so far than WWII, the American public has not made sacrifices like was done during WWII. By Ms Rice's own words we had Saddam "boxed in" with no fly zones and before Bush ordered the invasion she saw no need for it. I was opposed to the invasion but by any way one measures it, history will be the final judge as future generations pay off the debt of this war. In the mean time the rich in America have received tax cuts and most of the soldiers in Iraq are from lower income families who in large measure joined the military for economic reasons. As an American I am ashamed of the way our "leadership" has conducted American foreign policy and the resulting economic and hardship inequalities during the current administration. Bellavia's experience serves as a reminder of this. The two party system in America is a scam, as in recent years it has given us poor choices, with each party 鈥榟ijacked鈥 by their representative extremists. America needs a strong third party alternative whose heart and mind is in the right place and faces reality like our current real inflation rate of near ten percent. Until then rational centralists as I will alternately be repulsed by whichever one is in power.
Dear David, Mick, Ronald
Thanks for your support. Is it useful for me to post on here occasionally about our thought processes before we book/arrange interviews, and the approach we take to them? Or is it a bit too insular, too much navel-gazing for your liking?
Victoria