Standing Wolf,
When did the US save the UK from tyrany?
If you want to go back to WW1, a German invasion of the UK was never on the cards at all as far as I am aware???
If you are refering to WW2, you had better double check your history...The RAF staved off a possible German invasion during the Battle of Britian and this was fought and won before America had even entered the war.
The RAF defeated the Germans using British designed and built aircraft rather than anything America supplied.
We do owe a huge dept to the pilots of other nations such as the Canadians, Poles and Free French who volunteered to fly with the RAF and on an individual basis, that included a handful of Americans too.
After failing to gain air superiority, the Germans were never in a realistic position to mount the invasion especially after they invaded Russia.
America can take and deserves credit for many things, including helping liberate Europe, but in 1940, the UK effectively stood alone against Germany. In fact the last time we were successfuly invaded was by the Normans in 1066 which is nearly a thousand years ago, so I think were are doing ok at looking after ourselves...
This is in no way an anti American rant, as I am actually quite pro American. Rather its just a small correction of a "myth" many Americans seem to believe. There is of course no way we could have liberated Europe on our own , and that liberation was only down to the sacrifice made by other countries principly America and Russia, (but not forgetting other Commonwealth nations such as Canada), that but that is a little different to the original jist of your comments..
With regards the original post about British armed police, you can't really compare the ethos of the armed Police in the UK to the US because in this area our two natons have such a different outlook, culture, and history...
I do however agree entirely with the sentiments of the soldiers doing the training and I say that having seen a few "armed response units" of a couple of different British Police Forces training. My long held belief is that I would honestly not trust most of them with a pointy stick much less a firearm.
With regards the incident in London on the tube, it has transpired that an undercover soldier actually had a bear hug on the suspect as the met Police officers entered the train..One or more of these officers "wrestled" the soldier off the suspect, who was then shot a number of times...This has come from statements made by the soldier to the Police Complaints Authority which were subsiquently leaked to the Press.
Personally, I would like to see the Officers concerned charged with murder and brought before the Courts ...this is generally what happened if a soldier shot and killed someone in similar circumstances whilst on operations in Northern Ireland...I believe that whether you are a police officer or a soldier, when you take a life of an unarmed civilian, you must always be prepared to take responsibility for that and that you must be held to account. You should never be above the law you are trying to uphold....
Regards,
Pete
all kinds of childish reactions ensue. They should be given more time for it to wear off, I guess.