One thing they will never be, is to blame.
A terrible mistake had happened: they were all responsible. Geordie made “a mistake firing, and Dangermouse.” And Stewart made a mistake “not staying on top of the situation.” He has made “a mistake like that before” and has to live with it “a long time.” Unfortunately, “the ruperts aren’t interested in that,” they wouldn’t let them make thing right and save Sayed’s wife and child. Unlike Stewart and the lads, ruperts are “there to pass the buck.” One thing they will “never” be, is “to blame.” Unlike Stewart, the officers who have sent them there will sleep peacefully at night.
Don’t push your luck. Remember who’s got the gun.
Freddie has been losing it. He hates everything about this country – people, traditions, their language etc. That is why he starts picking on Malek, insulting him over and over again. The latter is not a coward, and to show Fred how blissfully unaware he is, the man launches into a long explanation of all the crimes the Allies have made. However, Freddie has never been a good listener. “Remember who’s got the gun,” he says. He is a perfect example of a person who has lost an ability to think critically. Freddy doesn’t want to know the truth, for the absence of such knowledge is convenient for him. He lives in a black and white world.
Dom, what cost the truth?
Ursula wants to be a good war reporter. She is brave enough to go to the war, she is reckless enough to ask provocative question, but what she can’t do is to forget that she is – at least partially responsible for Dangermouse’s death. She shouted for him to get her things and now he is “lying on the red sand, his blood draining from the stump of where his arm once was.” The sand “grows redder” and “the sun grows fiercer.” That is the “cost of the truth.” However, when your friend dies, you see what a terrible price you are ready to pay to tell your story.
