UK citizens irked at having their soldiers "take some casualties" for *?

[SoCalDem]

Is the "moving UK soldiers north" in your papers??or on TV?? Are the citizens ok with this??

It's such a blatant "cover" for georgie..

The southern cities (UK)in Iraq are about the only semi-stable ones in the whole country..

[FlemingsGhost]

1. LOL ... a tiny cultural faux pas, I'm afraid.

In the UK, to be "pissed," means drunk.

The headline takes on a little bit of a different tone, but hey ... I'm sure there are some folks getting drunk over the casualities.

;-)

[SoCalDem]

2. Oops...

I'll have to fix that

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Most of the posters here are used to American the expression

but it did sound weird the first time I heard it. We say "pissed off".

To get back to the topic:
Yes, it has been prominent in the news, eg this is the lead front page story in The Guardian today:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1329816,00.html

Hoon to face MPs as military unease grow

The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, will confirm today that the British military is considering sending as many as 600 soldiers to previously US-patrolled hotspots south of Baghdad, as it considers a wider role for troops ahead of the planned elections in January.

British defence sources made clear yesterday that there was widespread unease among military commanders about the deployment, in particular the suggestion that troops were being used in a "political gesture" to support the agenda of the Bush administration in the run-up to the presidential election next month. "There is unease about us being drawn in to the whole American election thing," one source said.

Mr Hoon will today face what is likely to be a hostile House of Commons when he makes a statement on the proposed deployment, in the face of mounting criticism from both Labour backbenchers and the opposition.

The defence secretary will seek to calm MPs and stress that no decision has been made. However, a battle group of 650 British troops from the Black Watch regiment has been earmarked to "backfill" for US marines policing the two highly volatile towns of Iskandariya and Latifiya, about 15 miles (25km) south of Baghdad.

What the average person thinks about it, I'm not sure. No-one wants a British soldier injured, let alone killed, for the sake of Dubya's election; but if it came at another time, there might be an acceptance of it (maybe a bit of bravado - "we'll show them how it's done properly" etc.) The news stories also talk about unease at having British troops under American command - would they have to adopt American tactics, which are widely seen as too confrontational? - and I'm worried about 'friendly fire', which seems to account for a large percentage of British casualties whenever Americans and Brits work together.

[Jasper 91]

4. It can mean both .

So in this context they might be mad . Oh and I'm a 'Brit' living in the UK .,who loves your country and absolutely loathes George Bush .:)