The idea of a "homecoming parade" for British soldiers now in Afghanistan was bound to raise hackles. Otherwise we could just pretend "Northern Ireland is as British as Finchley." Yet Unionist politicians now feign surprise at the robust dissension of West Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff. They even claim 95% of people in the North would support a parade.
That is every bit as ridiculous as suggesting that this has anything to do with somebody's religion – including the personal faith allegiances of the soldiers involved; or assuming that because Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness expressed neighbourly Christian concern for a Derry clergyman going to the war zone as a chaplain, that he supports the war there and the British Army's Royal Irish Regiment; or that this has anything to do with recognition of Irish soldiers who died in World Wars.
The fact is, by virtue of their political viewpoints, Republicans and Nationalists cannot celebrate the British Army in Ireland. It is their politics, not their religion, that makes this so. It can only be assumed that if Catholics join the British Army, they accept the legitimacy of that army's role, even in contentious war zones.
However, a significant number from unionist backgrounds also bitterly oppose the wars in which the British Army is now engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is as true here as it is in England, Scotland or Wales. Catholics, Protestants – and particularly Dissenters – see nothing to celebrate in those who have waged war in foreign lands with untold civilian casualties. They oppose the wars, even though they might naturally wish to see their neighbours safely returned home.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – and the questionable political legitimacy of sending armies into sovereign lands – must not be trivialised by dragging it down to the petty labels that divide us here. And if one must assign labels of religion to these conflicts, surely the one that matters most is Islam. Many who fundamentally oppose these wars believe they drive more people in the Muslim world into extremism. Rather than preventing terrorism, they foster it.
One suspects those who brought up this parade idea know it has no prospect of support across the community. Shame on them for finding another focus for rancour.
