LBC callers berate Trump administration for insulting British forces

A story that I think really should have got more attention today than it has. And the only reason it hasn't is because I think we risk becoming immune to what is going on. And my goodness, we shouldn't be. Because today, a senior member of the United States government has said one of the most offensive, obnoxious things about our country that any senior member of any US administration has said in a very, very long time. It is, once again, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of State for War, who seems to think his job involves attacking not the US's enemies, but increasingly its allies, and more and more shooting from the hip. Pete Hegseth has once again made the claim today that US allies didn't really fight on the front line during the war in Afghanistan. Have a listen to this. I was a captain in Afghanistan, and we would go to the headquarters in Kabul, and there would be 50 flags at the headquarters. And it was a beautiful thing to see, 50 different countries contributing to the NATO alliance and the ISAF mission there, except there were like maybe five that contributed. It was actually closer to one or two that actually, by the end, were actually involved in kinetic operations. In fact, the patch ISAF would joke that it meant I saw Americans fighting, which is sort of a it's it's a joke but it's demoralizing when you feel like it's it's not burden sharing it's actually a burden it's a burden it's a burden that the countries that joined the US in their endeavor to topple the Taliban were actually a burden according to their current secretary of state for war which only echoes to be fair to Pete Hegseth what his boss Donald Trump said back in January I've always said will they be there if we ever needed them and that's really the ultimate a test. And I'm not sure of that. I know that we would have been there or we would be there. But will they be there? And let's hope that that never happens. We've never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that. And they did. They stayed a little back, a little off the front lines. And Trump unusually backed down, having said that. But now Pete Hegseth has doubled down and repeated it. And I can't help but wonder how that feels to the families of the 457 British servicemen and women who were killed in that war in Afghanistan. Killed, if you believe Pete Hegseth, while they were, what, sitting around their secure base somewhere, playing cards and swigging beers and having a great time while the US forces went out to do the actual fighting. So if that's you, if you served in Afghanistan or you've got loved ones that did, What do you make of this offensive rubbish oh three four five six oh six oh nine seven three but even the others the many many many um people who did fight in our military maybe not in Afghanistan but elsewhere how do you feel about being told that you your comrades are armed forces are basically cowards who leave the hard work up to somebody else perhaps you made all sorts of sacrifices endured all sorts of horrors lost friends and colleagues yourself only to now be gaslit by the U.S. Secretary of State for War, insisting that actually all of those things never really happened because you weren't actually really fighting. It was only the U.S. that was doing that. Let me know. 03456060973. I find it offensive. You can hear it gets my back up. I've never served in the military. My goodness, nobody would want that. My grandfather did. But apart from that, I don't have any direct connections to our armed forces. And if it angers me, I can only begin to imagine how you feel about it if you yourself fought or you have close friends or loved ones who did. 03456060973. And even if you didn't, even if, like me, you haven't actually served yourself and you don't have relatives who did, what about our government's response to this? Because let me just read to you what Downing Street has had to say about those appalling comments from Hegseth. Downing Street says this. Frankly, the facts speak for themselves when it comes to the UK's and NATO's contribution to Afghanistan. thousands of British and allied families made huge sacrifices to play their significant part in that war and uphold our values and more than 450 of them never returned their sacrifice and that of other NATO forces will never be forgotten and it's wrong to diminish their role fair enough not going to disagree with any of that does that go far enough for you is that how our government should be responding to such a gratuitously offensive load of nonsense from Pete Hegseth Here's what I would have said. If I was working in Downing Street today, here's what I would have said. I would have put out a statement that said this. The Prime Minister is extremely concerned about the offensive and utterly false claims made by the US Secretary of State for war. The Prime Minister will be seeking an urgent call with President Trump to express his utter dismay and seek an immediate withdrawal of this lie. That's what I would have said. And do you know what? I think Donald Trump would have quite rated that. I think he would have respected it more than the facts speak for themselves, mealy mouth stuff that we've got from the government today. If our government won't properly stand up for the 457 and their families and all the others who fought in that conflict, then frankly, who will? So yes, I wish Pete Hegseth would pipe down and shut up and stop coming out with this rubbish along with Donald Trump. I also wish our government would speak up a bit more and start calling this nonsense out for what it is, rather than just saying the facts speak for themselves because if we've learned anything from Donald Trump and his team it's that they have a flagrant disregard for facts of every flavor so just saying well the facts speak for themselves clearly they don't when you're dealing with people like this so i would like Andy Burnham, West Street and the defense secretary to come out fighting on behalf and in defense of not just the 457 their memories and their families but the rest of our military who has to endure this utter nonsense again and again and again i think that the government should issue a simple statement explaining you know you're just reminding everyone that what what our troops did but i think the real people who should be apologizing they're all of the far right apologists throughout this country including someone at LBC who constantly pandered to Trump and Hegseth in the early stages and have constantly banged on about how how many wars Trump has stopped and all the other stuff that the cheerleaders have been doing for the best part of a decade they're the people that should be coming out apologising, they should be apologising to us and to the troops and saying we're sorry that we supported a man who was quite clearly a deviant and depraved from the start they're the ones who should apologise and the senior politicians in this country Joshua absolutely the Liz Trusses, the Boris Johnson's the Nigel Farages, the Jacob Rees-Mogg, who made absolutely no secret whatsoever of their deep admiration and respect for Donald Trump, who now has shown a complete lack of any respect whatsoever, and Hegseth, about our country and our armed forces. Yeah, I just, so, you know, I don't know why, with the greatest respect to you, I don't know why you're getting mad at the government when the government probably is staffed with people who already know what kind of a scumbag Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are. Yeah, I agree. so why don't look they can't call him a scumbag obviously i'm not saying they should come out and call donald trump a disgrace and say we're never going to work with this guy but i do think that the statement that Downing Street has come out with today for me Joshua feels falls well short of what our military should expect when it comes to our government standing up for what they did and the sacrifices they made i don't think saying the facts speak for themselves is enough i want Andy Burnham on the phone to Donald Trump tonight saying mr president this is deeply offensive please order your secretary of state for war to withdraw this comment and i think trump would respect that as well and well look i think they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't why also as well why are they damned if they don't because if they come out and say well two things first of all i'll also say this is well documented as well that the army is full of far-right you know i'm not going to say i'm not going to cast them all with the same brush but the army's got a lot of far-right voices within i think there should be a lot of internal apologizing in that sorry joshua which army the british army the british armed forces is full of right wing what's the what's the evidence for saying our army's full of far right so many articles about this i've been reading about this for the last where all in the newspapers ben in the newspapers i read how do they know i read the army forums i see what people write and what do they write they write a whole bunch of great far right nonsense okay so there's a bunch like please don't pretend that that is not the exact sort of... So what, because you don't like their politics? They have the right to be gaslit by the Trump administration? What I'm saying is, many of them are the same kind of people who would have been banging on about Trump being great for this country as well, and we want Trump in our country. I mean, what's that rear admiral who was in Reform UK, Chris Parry? Blatant racist. He was banging on about Trump not so long ago. How many army voices... Well, I think blatant racist is something he would dispute, but he did have to apologise for some comments that he made, Joshua. That is fair. Yeah. But coming back to the point, why do you think Andy Burnham shouldn't go further and with Streeting in calling out what you and I agree is a hugely offensive series of comments from the Trump administration? Because we all, most people are fed up of this now. We already know who and what Donald Trump is. I mean, he did it before and I think Keir Starmer called him out. That's why I said at the start of the conversation, I think we are, I've been quite surprised at how little attention this has got. Because you go back 10 years, a US secretary of state for defense war as he likes to call himself coming out and saying this would have been the front page of every newspaper it would have been the top of every news bulletin so um unprecedented and unthinkable would it have been for a U.S. government to make such disparaging and disgraceful comments about our country and because it almost goes with the territory now Joshua as you say there's barely been a sort of blink about it today and i just i just think there's a risk that we become immune to it and we can't and we shouldn't Yeah, I completely agree. But again, I just feel that people are tired now. We all know who and what Trump is. But, you know, when I said earlier on about their being, they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't, if they come out and criticise, you're going to get a whole bunch of right-wing commentators saying, oh, he shouldn't, you know, the US is our main ally. I know it's so what, but what I'm saying is, like, you cannot win anymore with these people. I'm going to have to disagree with you there, Joshua, because Keir Starmer wasn't exactly known for standing up to Donald Trump. last time Trump said something like this came out and called the comments appalling and to be fair Trump backed down and put out a post basically praising the role of the British forces in Afghanistan so maybe Andy Burnham should take a leaf out of Keir Starmer's book on that one and start standing up a bit more for our veterans I'm not sure why Joshua's going on about right wing this is a case of wrong and right if he was standing where I was today I was speaking to an ex-war veteran who fought in Belfast fought in the Falklands and has lost his son in Afghanistan. Now, he fought for his country in Belfast and the Falklands. He fought for America, that's Trump's cash, and lost his life. And this is the way he paid back. 457 brave men were killed, flew out there to fight the good fight. And all their families have just said, I've got to grieve and listen to this garbage from this man. And our Prime Minister doesn't want to say a dicky bird. I'm doing everything I can to keep the language sensible. You're doing a good job, Antony, but I share your anger and I share your indignation about this. I mean, Downing Street has said it's wrong. They have pointed out what actually happened and they have said the facts speak for themselves. But you also think that that's not enough, do you? Well, the facts speak for themselves. There should be 457 coffins that these men have gone. And this man could just make these statements and not care what impact it has on these lives. people today that are probably just getting over their grief or trying to have got to be reminded by this buffoon and his team of sycophants that oh the troops are at the back and us us tough GIs were at the front doing it i mean look seriously it's just wrong and i know there's there's there's certain cases for points of view on this matter but this is wrong and this bully has to be stopped. Our government has to stand up and give them a punch on the nose of some kind, not just oh, the facts speak for themselves. Where does that come from? If the facts spoke for themselves, we wouldn't be having this conversation, because we all know the facts. My goodness, your friend who lost his son in Afghanistan knows the facts. The bloke who doesn't know the facts, clearly, Pete Hegseth, and also Donald Trump, given what he said before. So, Downing Street saying the facts speak for themselves, clearly they don't, or we wouldn't be in this place in the first place. What did your mate have to... Sorry, I beg your pardon. I was just going to ask you how your friend felt about this, having lost his son in this war. I was watching a 76-year-old, 6'4", tough, old vet crying, and it was heart-rending listening to this man speak about losing his son in the prime of his life, 24-year-old son. And at the end of the day, he fought for America. We were called upon, and we went out and helped. it's just it's reminiscent of what he said he did with the Second World War, isn't it? Yeah, it is, it is, and next time America comes under attack and calls for our support, Anthony, I mean UK governments would be right in saying, well, last time we almost 500 of our service men and women laid down their lives for you and and got told they'd done nothing so well actually you know you're on your own this time, I mean I'm not saying we should do that because our interests and theirs are aligned We realise that on this side of the Atlantic. they don't seem to. They think their interests are aligned with Vladimir Putin more and more. But, Antony, I'm with you. I want to see more from our government in standing up to Trump on behalf of the veterans, their families and all the others who did come back, but came back forever changed from that war and others like him. I find this quite disgusting, to be honest. I served 30 years in the military, five tours of Afghanistan, four in Iraq stood next to my US colleagues in bunkers and shell holes and we all got on together so this political thing is trying to drive a divide I feel between the two militaries I've got I lost three soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and I've got the names on my leg tattooed in that's so important it is even though you apparently weren't even fighting on the front line Gus according to the I mean, it's not some random, you know, nobody commentator. This is the US Secretary of State for Defence. How do you feel when you heard, I don't know if you heard it, but you heard the clip of what he had to say. What's the emotion that sort of runs through you? It just disappoints me because I picked up soldiers wounded in action doing our job. And, yeah, it's wrong. What would you like to see our government doing in response to that? Do I need to put a firm stance on this one? What I don't really understand, you could probably explain to me, Mr Defence Secretary never worked in the military. Wes Streeting, no, he didn't. So how has he got qualifications to be Defence Secretary? I just don't quite figure it out. Nor did the previous one. I mean, we've had quite a few, haven't we? Gavin Williamson, Wes Streeting, John Healey. Yeah, it's quite emotional for me. I'm sure. I've lost probably four of my friends through PTSD. They've taken their own lives since we came back. And, yeah, we were there. You know what you saw, Gus. They knew what they witnessed and endured, even if Pete Hegseth doesn't. Yeah, we were there. We did a bit, and we stood side by side with American, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian colleagues. You were only there, but this is the sort of sick irony, isn't it? You were only there. You only went through what you and your friends went through, fighting a war on behalf of and alongside the United States of America, which now shows such disregard and disrespect for you. Afghanistan, it's never going to come back it's going to be what it is forever yeah it's quite cutting actually I think for most of the military community serving or retired, I'm retired now but I think it's quite upsetting for them all and you'd like to see a tougher response or a tougher defence of you and what you went through from our government. Yes sir indeed I totally hear you Gus and I'd like to see it too my friend thank you very much indeed for the call uh gus in portland lots of calls coming in on this more of those in just i think in terms of me being offended i'm i'm gonna say no so i'll just give you a couple of sentences about me uh during the army when i was 17 i deployed to afghanistan when i was 18 i was in the infantry um i was a member of the Household Cavalry so we went in 2009 2010 out of our battle group we had um seven died while we were over there i can't remember the rough the exact number sorry but it was about 15 um other casualties which were amputees and gunshot wounds so we were on the front line and in terms of me being offended i would say no and i'll give you my give my why we are being criticized as veterans and serving members of the armed forces by someone who was in kabul that wasn't even near the front line as you've mentioned and then donald trump who avoided military service his father avoided military service his grandfather avoided military service i cannot let these types of people offend me because they're irrelevant and what i would say is anyone that's listening that has been affected by the war in afghanistan as a um with regards to British armed forces whether that be a relative family friend member who died or you served there these people are not worth your anger and i really mean that they're irrelevant to you for me i'm very passionate about what i did there and it still lives with me where are we now 16 years on and what i would say with the members of government that may or may not speak to the american government you've mentioned an individual called Josh Leakey, so I don't know if you know who he is, but he was a paratrooper he is a paratrooper, but he's a Colour Sergeant now in the Parachute Regiment served in Afghanistan and he was awarded a Victoria Cross for saving the lives of US Marines mention him. Let's see what they say to that Yeah. Tom that's very I don't know what the word is it's very gracious of you, because if I were you I would be livid today and I would be sickened by what I heard from Pete Hegseth They're not worth it Even if they're the US Secretary of State for Defence again they're not worth it if they if they really think that and if they want to stand on their moral high ground based on someone who's actively avoided any form of military service and then someone who's been to afghanistan and as you said the time away he went it wasn't anywhere near the front line yeah we know who the real cowards are really yeah it's irrelevant tom i'm glad that it hasn't affected you in that way and i hope it's some solace at least knowing that people on this side of the Atlantic appreciate and understand and recognise and are grateful and respectful for everything that you and your friends and your comrades went through in that war. If only the US administration felt the same way.