Support the Troops, Prime Minister Brown!
When the war in Afghanistan makes it on the front pages of the British papers and the top of the TV bulletins, it’s a sure sign that things aren’t going well. And right now, Afghanistan is very big news indeed.
July was the worst month for British forces in the country since the conflict began, with 22 soldiers killed at the time of writing. The U.S. also suffered its worst month of the war, losing 38 troops; however the U.S. has roughly six times as many troops in the country, and taking into account the relative populations of the two countries, the British casualty rate is comparable to that which the U.S. was suffering during the worst months of the Iraq conflict.
Military chiefs have warned that further sacrifices will be required as British forces, along with U.S. and other allies, try to drive back Taliban insurgents ahead of the presidential election later this month. But while the British public has yet to turn against the war in significant numbers, there’s little evidence that Gordon Brown’s government understands what’s required if the country is to be stabilized to the extent that NATO and U.S. forces can begin to contemplate a withdrawal.
With the death toll mounting in Afghanistan, military chiefs have opened a second front against their political masters back home. A steady stream of senior soldiers, both serving and retired, have attacked the government for under-resourcing the war effort. The biggest complaint is the lack of helicopters available to troops, which commanders say is responsible for at least some of the deaths.
Brown has insisted that the army has enough helicopters, but his assurances were somewhat undermined when the head of the armed forces, General Sir Richard Dannatt, had to travel in an American helicopter to visit British troops in Helmand province. Further evidence of the lack of direction in the government came when Lord Malloch-Brown, the foreign office minister, admitted in an interview that there was “definitely” a shortage of helicopters, before being forced to “clarify” his remarks under pressure from Brown’s staff.
Brown has attempted to silence legitimate criticism by accusing political opponents of undermining the troops, and one senior Labour figure went even further, accusing military chiefs of giving “succor to the enemy.” It also emerged that Labour ministers are plotting to smear General Dannatt if he continues his criticisms of the government after stepping down from his post.
The prime minister’s claim of doing everything necessary to support the troops was further dented recently when the government launched a legal battle to claw back compensation paid to two wounded soldiers. Brown never liked funding wars when he was Tony Blair’s chancellor of the exchequer, and he isn’t any more keen on it now — a billion more spent on the armed forces is a billion less to pour into the bottomless pit of public services.
The extent to which the government is failing its armed forces has become apparent at a time when public backing for the troops has never been higher. Thousands of people have been lining the streets of Wootton Bassett, a small market town in the west of England, to pay their respects to those killed in Afghanistan who are repatriated to a military airbase close by. The ceremonies have become depressingly regular affairs in recent weeks.
I agree “Crash” Gordon understands why Allied forces are in Afghanistan. I disagree that he approves.
After all, Brown is an old-school Labourite of the type that, thirty years ago, was all in favor of waving the white flag and just giving NATO to the Soviets, in the name of “international socialist brotherhood”. Of course, like his cronies (notably “Red Ken” Livingston), he probably was calculating that he would be one of those running the local area for their new masters in Moscow; after all, they’d need him, wouldn’t they?
In the present context, Brown seems to still believe that this is a war the U.S. started, and that the UK got dragged into. And one he is certain he could have avoided by (a) finding out what the other side wanted first and (b) giving it to them.
(What’s that you say? They want Israel gone, and the West to submit? He’s sure something can be worked out.)
Since he regards himself as “stuck” fighting a war that he personally disapproves of, both in terms of objectives and expenses, it’s not too surprising that Brown chooses to fall back on the standard “progressive” gambits in such situations; namely, to try to get out of the situation by any means necessary, while blaming everyone else for his failures. (After all, he’s just SO much smarter than “everyone else”- in his own opinion.)
In Brown’s behavior today, I suspect both Britons and Americans are seeing the behavior of the Obama administration tomorrow. Since Brown is apparently going to “go first”, there is no reason for the rest to be shy about following the same route.
As for where that route will eventually end, they’ll worry about that tomorrow.
clear ether
eon
We have Pakistanis openly avowing hate. We have known ME supporters of terror spouting bile at meetings. We give them houses, benefits and protection of the law denied to the white British.
Send that lot of ingrates back, severely limit immigration from Pakistan and get out of Afghanistan.
So easy yet so beyond our pc obsessed gov.
Wow, with all those problems, it sounds like Rumsfield is running things over there.
Michael Yon, who has embedded with british forces in Sangin, has written about the Brits using Russian contractor helicoptors. The problems in Afghanistan are more about getting the US army off it’s butt. Risk aversion and force protection seem to be a mindset that came into force in the 90′s(according to Robert Shultz) and has carried over to things in much of Afghanistan. From my readings(Michael Yon, Robert Kaplan, Free Range International, Aghanistanshrugged, and anything else I can find) Afghanistan is several years behind, in terms of ANP and ANA numbers, than Iraq was at the time of the surge.
God bless the British soldiers and keep them safe.