Singer James Blunt 'stopped World War 3'

[The Straight Story]

Singer James Blunt 'stopped World War 3'

Singer James Blunt has told the BBC how he refused an order to attack Russian troops when he was a British soldier in Kosovo.

Blunt said he was willing to risk a court martial by rejecting the order from a US General.

But he was backed by British General Sir Mike Jackson, who told him "I'm not going to have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War 3".

Blunt was ordered to seize an airfield - but the Russians had got there first.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5Live, to be broadcast later on Sunday, he said: "I was given the direct command to overpower the 200 or so Russians who were there.

"I was the lead officer with my troop of men behind us ... The soldiers directly behind me were from the Parachute Regiment, so they're obviously game for the fight.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11753050

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. He's beautiful; it's true. n/t

[Posteritatis]

2. If true that's pretty deeply mindboggling

Both that people again got that close to it and that the order to attack the Russians was even being considered there.

[Blue_Tires]

3. amazing how you could be at the crossroads of history and not know it at the time

[xchrom]

4. There were orders given to 'over power' Russian troops? Oy. Nt

[charlie]

6. Made a huge flap here during the 2004 primaries

Because it involved Wesley Clark.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. I remember when the Russians appeared in Pristina out of nowhere

It was on CNN, live.

The announcers were nervous and perplexed, as the Russians had not announced their action in advance.

The US was also astounded when the Serbs pulled out of Kosovo with almost no casualties or material losses - the NATO strikes had been hitting decoys while the Serb army stayed well-bunkered. NATO had estimated that it had destroyed something like 40% of the Serb's capacity, but that turned out to be completely false. It would have been quite the bloodbath had the Serbs elected to stick in and force a ground action. That hardly gets mentioned either.

Intelligence during the Kosovo campaign was dismal, to say the least. It was all largely pulled off through international pressure, rather than through force.

[Swede]

13. I remember the armored vehicles racing at night on CNN.

Russia and NATO looked like they were gonna go toe to toe.

[Yavin4]

7. Then Again, He Did Release That "You're Beautiful" Single

So, that's +1 for preventing WWIII, and -1 for the song. So, it's a wash.

[marmar]

8. Agreed. That song makes me want to......

[whatchamacallit]

12. LOL! (nt)

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. There are guys on barstools all over who claim they saved the world.

This guy is just famous, so we get to hear about it.

Could it be possible that the general meant, "Hey, go sing your wuss-ass mopey songs to the Russians. Or, better yet, fire on them now, and save them the misery."

[baldguy]

10. I wonder if Gen Clark has any comment?

"The direct command came in from General Wesley Clark was to overpower them. Various words were used that seemed unusual to us. Words such as 'destroy' came down the radio."

[ShamelessHussy]

11. Google, No Bravery

http://nobravery.cf.huffingtonpost.com

love his music!