Defend L/Cpl Joe Glenton under attack by the warmongers

Conservative shadow defence secretary says it's "appalling" that L/Cpl Joe Glenton led the Stop the War Bring the Troops Home demonstration on 24 October. What is appalling is armchair warriors like Fox continuing to support a senseless and unwinnable war.

When Conservative shadow defence secretary Liam Fox attacks Lance Corporal Joe Glenton for leading the Stop the War Bring the Troops Home demonstration on October 24, he speaks for the politicians and the generals. Joe Glenton speaks for the ordinary British soldier, sent to kill and be killed in an unjustified war.

And he also speaks for the 62 percent of the British public who want all British troops withdrawn from Afghanistan.

In his letter to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, reported in the Daily Telegraph, Fox says, "To have someone awaiting court martial, to appear in public saying 'I'm here today to make a stand beside you because I believe great wrongs have been perpetrated in Afghanistan' is appalling."

Fox demanded to be told by Ainsworth whether Joe was given permission to appear and if so by whom and if he had no permission why was he not prevented from appearing by his chain of command.

We can help Ainsworth out here. Joe defied the orders of his commanding officer to be at the demonstration. "I expected that the need to defend this country's interests would be legal and justifiable. It's now apparent that the conflict is neither of these and that's why I must make this stand.

"It is distressing to disobey orders, but when Britain follows America in continuing to wage war against one of the world's poorest countries, I feel I have no choice."

Fox complained to Ainsworth, "When our serving men and women are making heroic sacrifices in Afghanistan for the sake of our national security, they and their families are likely to find this episode very upsetting."

What is truly upsetting is the deaths of 223 soldiers and many hundreds more seriously injured, who were sent -- and are being sent in increasing numbers -- into a war which has no other purpose than to save the face of politicians like Gordon Brown and Liam Fox, who cannot face the prospect of defeat in a conflict which should never have been started.

As Joe Glenton said last Saturday, "Politicians have abused the trust of the army and the soldiers who serve, that's why I am compelled and proud to march with the Stop The War Coalition today."

If Fox had been at the rally in Trafalgar Square, he would have heard the "upsetting" speeches by famililies of British soldiers: like Joan Humphries, whose grandson Kevin Elliott, 24, was killed on August 31; or Jenny Hurl, whose nephew is serving now in Afghanistan. They both told the crowd how they regard Joe Glenton as a hero for his courage in speaking out.

Their support for what Joe is doing is shared far and wide because -- as MP George Galloway told the rally -- Joe "stands up for decency and principle".

Many serving soldiers have told Joe that by making his stand he is speaking for them too.

Support for Joe's stand is even shared by members of Fox's own Party, one of whom wrote to Stop the War this week to say that he joined the October 24 demonstration to oppose "a war that the Conservatives have foolishly supported from the beginning."

Joe Glenton faces a two year jail sentence for his refusal to fight in Afghanistan. He plans to deny the charges of desertion at his court martial on the basis that the war is illegal.

While politicians like Fox, Ainsworth, Brown and all the other armchair warriors continue to send soldiers into a futile war -- refusing to heed the majority view of the British public that they should be withdrawn -- we need the courage and heroism of soldiers like Joe Glenton to help bring to an end the escalating loss of life by British soldiers and Afghans civilians alike.

Join us. We can make a difference.