Friday 9 April 2010

Afghanistan: David Kirwan vs Sound Money Man

My position on the occupation of Afghanistan is that War Is A Racket.

War is just a racket. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

-US Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler (1933)

My position can be summed up with the words "armed neutrality". Think "Switzerland without conscription" and you're already there.

Prospective independent parliamentary candidate David Kirwan apparently wants to have his cake and eat it too.

He seems to think that British forces must continue to occupy Afghanistan and kill those who oppose it if the US forces remain there. No unilateral withdrawal!

He even trots out the establishment talking point of "better kit for our boys".

It saddens me to report that the LPUK has officially endorsed independent candidate David Kirwan for the 2010 general election.

Clearly, I don't.


Reply by Stuart Heal

Sound Money Man has not been a member of the Libertarian Party for several months, and has today requested that his status as a guest blogger be removed, which I have done.

The official Libertarian Party position at this time is for a policy of armed neutrality - a policy which I personally disagree with, however I continue to be an active member of the Party because I agree with most of the rest of the manifesto and I want to do what I can to make Britain a better, more liberal country to live in.

David Kirwan - although not a member of the Libertarian Party - seems to have similar motivations, and has therefore been endorsed by our National Coordinating Committee.

On the particular subject of Afghanistan, I suggest that anyone interested visit David Kirwan's website, and look down the list of manifesto podcasts on the right of the page, and click on "War in Afghanistan". Listen to what Mr Kirwan has to say and make up your own mind as to whether what he's saying matches Sound Money Man's characterisation of him as some kind of war monger. Personally, I though what he was saying made a lot of sense.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you noticed that he can't even spell "Afganistan"? I'm sure he knows what he's talking about all the same.

...I assume LPUK are eyeing him as a future candidate?

Citizen Stuart said...

No I hadn't noticed, and being a former secretary with proofreading experience, I probably should have. But don't worry, I'll do my best to point out any typos on your website when you do your campaigning.

Anonymous said...

You seem to be moderating my comments now Citizen, but here's a reply anyway... You may never have the pleasure of checking for my typos because politics makes me want to chuck. I will have to take a deep breath and hold my nose if/when I ever go 'campaigning'.

Citizen Stuart said...

I don't know what you mean by moderating your comments, I haven't done anything but reply to you.

As far as campaigning goes - are you not the same "Gandhi" that recently registered the "Liberators" political party? Or am I thinking of someone else?

Anonymous said...

I commented on the third-to-last post in March (...Bono), it didn't appear: there was an on-screen message something about comment moderation, I used the word "sh*t", is it automatically screened?

Yes, that's me, I've not met another Gandhi on here yet. I've registered, but that's not to say I'll ever use it. My thinking is already moving on, perhaps there's a better way to "fight the power".

Citizen Stuart said...

I wasn't aware of any kind of automatic moderation filter in place on this blog, I'll have a look at the setting when I get time. Certainly no-one gets censored for disagreeing.