Page 245 - Demo

241said that he had lent his maps to one of his friends and they were in the mess. I told him to go and get them. After a bit he said that his friend was not about and his room was locked so he could not get them. He said, %u201chonest to God, Sir that is the truth%u201d and stood there. I looked him straight in the face and said %u201cSmiley, I know what honest to God means. It means I am lying through my teeth, but I think I might get away with it.%u201d He gave me a huge smile and said %u201cYes Sir. I will do them tonight.%u201d When the business of Saddam Hussein%u2019s weapons of mass destruction came up, I could not believe that the foreign office did not appear to understand the Iraqi psyche. Smiley suffered from airsickness which did not help him much but one day he was breathalysed. Actually, by my co Scout leader who was a police special. He gave up drinking for a while but that did not last long. And he went back to being sick. At this time the war between Iraq and Iran was going on and some western tankers had been bombed in the gulf, Smiley, said he would never do that to one of our ships. They didn%u2019t usually talk about the politics of Iraq with us, but Smiley did say that he was very much against Saddam Hussein.. He had once criticized him in front of his father who was a reservist Major. His father told him never to say such a thing in his house again. It was too dangerous, and anyone suspected of treason was shot. The Iraqis were mainly nice chaps, and at one point they came to a barn dance the scouts were holding in one of Geoff%u2019s barns. They finished the course eventually and were destined for Valley but at the last minute that was cancelled. We were told this was because the Iraq government had never paid the bills. One of them also left an illegitimate baby behind with a girl who had believed his declaration of love. My father died totally unexpectedly that year. He had been a bit poorly,but Mum did not tell us. Their doctor thought it was a problem with his liver but all the indications that we heard later strongly suggested a