That, my friends, is the heresy: Dame Vera supports the troops, but not the war. In an age when “Support the Troops” is often another way of saying “get behind the war, you unpatriotic wimp”, she is brave enough to challenge the conventional belief that the war in Afghanistan has anything to do with protecting the West’s “freedom”. And to utter what the younger and cockier of us seldom find the nerve to say when some raging wingnut is in our faces doing his best to shout us down.Dame Vera Lynn has questioned Britain’s role in Afghanistan.The 92-year-old is critical of the campaign which has cost the lives of 196 personnel, saying: ‘I don’t know what Afghanistan’s all about, I don’t know what we are doing there.’Dame Vera, who entertained troops as far afield as Egypt, India and Burma during the Second World War, said: ‘At one time, our soldiers would fight for the country they came from to stop the enemy invading, but now they are involved in other countries’ problems.’She was less than complimentary of the Government, which has been criticised for seeking to challenge the amount of compensation for wounded soldiers.Dame Vera told The Times: ‘I don’t know why there should be a problem. I mean, they are out there fighting, helping other people.‘They are our boys and they should be looked after. The money that is wasted on stupid things and then they quibble about this.’
See, what you’ve done there is rely on a quote from the Daily Mail. It’s therefore wise to take it with a pinch of salt and not draw too many inferences from it – Dame Vera Lynn might well have said an awful lot more which changes the context entirely, but they’ll only print what suits their agenda.
Which would be…?