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Operation James
By Patricia Harty
“He was just a kid, he wasn’t an enemy. This is what I signed up to do, to help people.” - Pfc. Joseph Dwyer, 7th Cavalry
As we go to press Pierce Brosnan’s latest James Bond movie Die Another
Day is set to open in the U.K. (May 2 and in the U.S., June 2). Brosnan
wasn’t interested in discussing 007, however, when he met with Irish
America recently. The handsome hunk from Navan was all talk about his
latest Irish movie, Evelyn, which, in case you missed it in the movie
theaters, is now available on video in the U.S.
Set in the early 1950s, Evelyn is based on the true story of Desmond Doyle
who fought back against the church and the Irish courts that took his
children away and put them in orphanages when his wife deserted the family.
Despite the harsh reality of the story, Evelyn is an upbeat movie with
a great cast, including Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rae and Julianna Margulies,
and Brosnan gives a stellar performance as Doyle. It is well worth a trip
to the video store for the glimpse it provides of Ireland half a century
ago when the church and state were all-powerful and sometimes abused that
power.
Brosnan, of course, became a household name when he was cast as James
Bond back in 1995. His three Bond movies to date have made a billion.
It’s expected that Die Another Day, which features the North Koreans
as the baddies, will score just as highly. However, the movie (already
on release in Asia) has caused a furor in Korea, North and South, over
both the portrayal of the people and the fact that there is a love scene
in a Buddhist temple.
Perhaps one shouldn’t expect a fictional character to worry about
such sensitivities. But one would expect an institution of world renown
such as the British Army to be a bit more diplomatic. Not so.
For anyone who ever saw a James Bond movie, the operation code names that
the British Army used in Iraq are hard to forget – ‘Operation
James’ and its military targets, code named ‘Goldfinger,’
‘Blofeld,’ and ‘Pussy Galore.’
One wonders what the Iraqis thought of the James Bond references.
“I think it’s just yet again an exhibition of the British sense
of humor,” Captain Al Lockwood, the British armed forces spokesman
in Qatar, told Jack Garland, of World News on April 7.
Indeed.
One shudders to think what code names the Army used for their operations
in Northern Ireland over the past 30 years.
Certainly there is no humor in the shocking report just released by London’s
chief constable Sir John Stevens, which reveals evidence of collusion
between British Army officers, the police force and loyalist paramilitaries
in targeting nationalists, including Patrick Finucane, a top Catholic
lawyer, who in 1989 was gunned down in front of his wife and children.
Read Frank Shouldice page 10 and Tom Hayden’s Last Word piece page
72.
There are of course, many fine men and women in the British Armed forces.
Col. Tim Collins of the Royal Irish Regiment shows himself to be one of
them in his address to his soldiers “We Go to Liberate Not to Conquer”
(page 48).
Also in this issue the history of the 7th Cavalry, whose song is Garryowen,
reflects the many fine soldiers who have served in the U.S. Army since
the Battle of Little Big Horn (page 50). To that end the photo of Pfc.
Joseph P. Dwyer (page 49) a member of the 7th Cavalry, in full battle
gear, a look of deep concern on his face, carrying a wounded Iraqi child
to safety, says it all. Pfc. Dwyer spoke for many of his fellow soldiers
when he said, “He was just a kid, he wasn’t an enemy. This is
what I signed up to do, to help people.”
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