The US vice president, JD Vance, went viral after he said Ukraine’s security would not be guaranteed in the hands of ‘20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.’
Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Helen Maguire, a former captain in the Royal Military Police who served in Iraq, urged the UK’s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, to call on Vance to apologise for the comments.
“JD Vance is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan,” she said.
“I saw firsthand how American and British soldiers fought bravely together shoulder to shoulder. Six of my own regiment, the Royal Military Police, didn’t return home from Iraq. This is a sinister attempt to deny that reality.”
The UK joined the US invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, following the 9/11 attacks, with France also sending forces to the country.
More than 150,000 British personnel have served in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, with the final troops withdrawing in 2021.
The UK was also part of a US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, with British forces in the country peaking at 46,000.
Vance then seemed to try and back-track, writing: “This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.’
When you are in trouble, keep digging?
He then added: “But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”
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Read more: White House praises JD Vance’s question to Zelenskyy—It backfires spectacularly
