Forgive Me

Although I am in total agreement with Notnowmeg, she has sparked me off on something I've been thinking about for a while, not about people coming in here so much as about people (although I use the term loosely) going about the world with large armies wondering why they're not made universally welcome despite bringing such important things as Democracy, Freedom, Happy Meals, serial murder and so on. A large proportion of the people who get moaned about when they either come here for asylum or jobs so they can eat have come from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. Does a person have to be in imminent fear of disembowelling to be owed a fair go if you've just blanket bombed their country? Or they're economic migrants from African countries crippled by colonialism, unfair trade rules and the Old World debt trap.
In fact there are very few groups of people who come here whose home land hasn't been negatively affected by Britain and our hulking bastard offspring the United States of Ancephaelia. And usually this has taken the form initially of whitey marching in with big weapons and big ideas to convert the resident population to the belief that they will go to hell if they don't accept the unconditional love of the Lord. By means of beatings, burnings and death if necessary. This is what your teachers may have called "Character building" (interestingly the phrase 'Team building' seems to have the same meaning, but different origins). They did it everywhere for centuries.
So now when the US and British mostly white man lead troops turn up on their massive ships full of planes, tanks and ammunition, knock on the door and say "Hello, have you accepted democracy as your salvation yet?" Are we really really surprised when the response is something along the lines of "Screw it and all who sail in it?" Are we? Are the orphans with HIV in Africa grateful for Catholicism? Were the Incas grateful for the conquistadors? Were people stood in the snow at Auschwitz yesterday feeling grateful for the Nazis? It really is the same thing. When we went with the US to Iraq, we were there to kill people who didn't want to be like US. So when a widow from Baghdad arrived here with her only surviving child, see if you can spare a few quid eh Tony?