Simply for telling a man he was wrong...
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, the soldier who faces desertion
charges for refusing to return to Afghanistan, has been
arrested and charged with five further offences for leading
Stop the War's demonstration in London on 24 October and for
expressing his opposition to the media in defiance of orders.
The new charges carry a maximum of ten years imprisonment in
addition to the sentence of three to four years that Joe could
get if the desertion charge is upheld.
Joe's mother, Sue Glenton, has spoken out against his arrest:
"You've got government ministers, army commanders and MPs
speaking every day in support of the war. What's so scary
about a Lance Corporal having his say? My son is only speaking
out for what he thinks is right."
Joe's arrest and imprisonment are signs of panic by the
government and military commanders, faced with an ever growing
majority of the British public opposing the war and an
increasing number of prominent voices in the media calling for
the withdrawal of British troops.
A poll published in the Independent shows that only one in
five voters believes that Britain's military presence in
Afghanistan is helping to protect the country from terrorism,
as Gordon Brown insists. The same poll shows that 48 percent
of voters think the war in Afghanistan increases the risk of
domestic terrorist attack.
