Ex-British soldier fighting Islamic State blasts government over 'shameful' response
A BRITISH former soldier has criticised the government over its "shameful" response to the rise of the Islamic State.
Alan Duncan told BBC Radio Five Live that the people of the Middle East consider themselves 'abandoned' by the West.
Mr Duncan, who is training an Assyrian Christian group of fighters with the Kurdish Peshmerga in the Northern Iraqi town of Duhok.
Mr Duncan, who is Scottish, told the BBC's Stephen Nolan
In an interview with the BBC's Stephen Nolan, he defended his actions. He said he was there for "humanity and the Kurdish people" and that he was helping fight "the most disgusting people since the Nazis".
The British Government disgusts me.
Mr Duncan told the BBC: "I wear the Union Jack on my uniform. The others wear their flags and what have you.
"It actually lifts the spirit of the people. They kind of feel that, just seeing us foreigners here, it lifts their spirits. They feel that they have been abandoned by the West.
"The British Government disgusts me. I'm a massive Tory, yet my Government is shameful. It's their lack of action in this country. Their lack of action to help Kurdish people."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The UK has consistently advised against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who travels to these areas is putting themselves in considerable danger."
Mr Duncan's comments come soon after Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, a former Royal Marine from Barnsley, Yorkshire, was killed fighting IS in Syria.
Mr Scurfield, 25 was killed while fighting with Kurdish militants near the city of Qamishli last Monday.
