Whatever Happened to the War Song?
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2014
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Back in the days of the Vietnam War the airwaves were full of protest songs. Today, plenty of conflict, but none of those songs. Humphrey Hawksley's been to Nashville to find out why. Jeremy Bowen's just been to Gaza, Syria and Iraq and reflects on what the fighting there might achieve. Caroline Wyatt's been reporting on global conflicts for seven years in her role as BBC Defence Correspondent. One question she's frequently been asked about war is: was it all worth it? The Irish economy may once again be gathering strength, but John Murphy, in the west of the republic, finds that emigration is taking its toll on rural life. And how difficult is it to go off for a swim? In the Indian capital Delhi, as Anu Anand's been finding out, the answer is ... VERY difficult!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, today. |
| 0:13.3 | Was it worth it? |
| 0:14.3 | Reflections on war from our man in Syria, Iraq, Libya and this week Gaza. |
| 0:20.8 | And from the Defence Correspondent earlier in Afghanistan and this week writing a final |
| 0:25.7 | dispatch after seven years in the job. Like blowing out a candle in a dark room, |
| 0:31.3 | emigration once again taking a toll on country life in Ireland. |
| 0:36.6 | And back to war again, where's today's blowing in the wind? |
| 0:40.8 | We're in Nashville, Tennessee, wondering whatever happened to the war song. |
| 0:46.8 | The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is on his way to the Middle East to try to broker a truce |
| 0:51.8 | between Israel and the Hamas authorities in Gaza. |
| 0:55.0 | Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks, helicopters and artillery fire |
| 1:00.0 | are continuing a major ground operation inside the Gaza Strip, the first in more than five years. |
| 1:06.2 | The Israelis say their military operation is designed to destroy tunnels used by Hamas militants |
| 1:11.7 | to store rockets. Jeremy Bowen spent much of this week in |
| 1:15.6 | Gaza and considers how the latest developments will affect the wider region. |
| 1:20.1 | I travelled to Gaza from Baghdad. |
| 1:23.0 | Before that I was in Syria in Aleppo and Damascus. |
| 1:26.0 | It made me ponder about the wrong turn I must have made about 30 years ago |
| 1:30.0 | to have such a sweaty violent timetable. |
| 1:34.0 | But it also made one vital fact about the Middle East impossible to avoid. |
| 1:38.0 | It's on fire. |
| 1:40.0 | In some places literally, almost everywhere politically. |
... |
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