Cameron's big plan

It all became clear this morning, as I lay in bed listening to Radio 4.

David Cameron had two things to say:

1. We should all 'revere' the military.
2. Soldiers in Afghanistan are to get an extra £30 per day, up from a £15 daily bonus.

Cameron paraphrased the poet Charles M Province, saying: "I want you to think of that great quotation that it's not the politician that brings the right to vote, it is the soldier, it is not the poet that brings free speech, it is the soldier, it is not the journalist that brings free expression, it is the soldier. So I want you to help me create a new atmosphere in our country, an atmosphere where we back and revere and support our military."

Province is a deeply dubious American militarist. The poem Cameron distorts also contains these lines:

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer

Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the politician

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag

Obviously, this is the most total of bollocks. A second's thought about campus protest brings to mind the Kent State Massacre, in which US soldiers shot dead several students, or the Iranian Basiji attacks on students recently. The reference to flag-burning locates the poem in the Vietnam war - flag desecration was a hot topic on the pro-war side, though the Supreme Court has consistently ruled that it's a constitutionally-protected method of free expression.

It's obvious. He's planning a military coup. This stuff about 'revering' the military is little short of sinister. It precludes any critique of military behaviour - despite the UK military being involved in torture (Baha Mousa, for one), repression and assassination (Northern Ireland), and all sorts of disgraceful activity of the sort I discussed in relation to the British Empire a day or so ago. There's got to be more thought, more nuance. If this is the level of Cameron's intellect, I'm very worried.

I'm sure that some soldiers are perfectly respectable, and I feel sorry for those forced into the armed services as the only way out of poverty or difficult circumstances, but I really don't think we should 'revere' those who simply want to kill people. Additionally, there isn't a military regime in the world that promotes freedom of speech, the right to vote or free expression. Cameron's a sinister liar or delusional if he believes this rubbish.

We need a military, but the idea that we should worship them is politically and socially dangerous. They become a breed apart, not reflecting our social makeup. They get away with events like My Lai, Bomber Command killing tens of thousands of civilians in Dresden alone, or the murder of hundreds of fleeing conscripts after Kuwait on the Highway of Death.

This extra money is a shocker as well. The government's spent their whole time telling us that we're all going to suffer badly through massive budget cuts, yet the nuclear weapons budget is untouched and soldiers are going to be paid a lot extra.

There are 10,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. The extra £15 per week works out at £1, 050, 000 per week, or £54,600,000 per year. This is a shocking amount of money in the midst of what they're telling us is the worst financial depression in decades.

Unless you see it as a wise investment in muscle ready for the civil unrest which will follow the welfare, school, health and public service cuts. Then it's always useful to have some happy, violent lads on hand (as demonstrated by the police during the Miners' Strike).

PS. If you're depressed by the Tories' attack on education, get a load of this moron - and the Tory minister who struggles to contain his grin.