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They are moving our troops from Iraq to Afghanistan -OUT of the FRYING PAN into the FIRE

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Disengagement? -It's just a new word for RETREAT.

by

Andrew Alexander

COLUMN

[Daily Mail-Friday, April 13-2007]

THE COMBINATION of the murder of the two Members of the Iraqi Parliament, eight deaths of Canadians in Afghanistan this week and President Bush's decision to stretch U.S. troops' tour of duty by three months underlines the fact that the war in the Middle East

IS BEING LOST.

Our own much -vaunted Front Bench consensus on Afghanistan is now increasingly precarious. Unless there are signs of 'serious progress' in the coming months, a Tory front-bencher tells me, the Opposition will start asking awkward questions.

The cross-bench consensus, or collusion, on Iraq is holding only because Britain is officially committed to DISENGAGEMENT.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORD THAT IS!

The old euphemism of

'Tactical withdrawal'

-to disguise

RETREAT

-has become so hackneyed over the years that its use provokes

DERISION.

So we have 'disengagement' instead.

Unfortunately indeed alarmingly, we are moving troops withdrawn from Iraq to increase our presence in Afghanistan -out of the [proverbial] frying pan into the

 FIRE

[and damn hot it can get in that dusty barren wilderness with the thousands of insurgents swarming into their wake to give then a good sending off - to remember. All we hope is that our incompetent shop-dummy of a Defence Secretary does not forget to ensure that our troops are not left without ammunition- helicopters and other vital equipment including the £285,000 Mastiff heavily armoured vehicles promised late last year, to arrive before our troops are withdrawn.]

We should have no illusions about the conditions under which we disengage in Iraq. They are heavily dependent on Iran, which has considerable power among the Shias in Basra and can control the level of violence there.

The four British service deaths last week, alongside the release of captives in Iran, were Tehran's reminder that it can have it both concede and threaten. It is hard to know, given the complex pattern of power in Iran -the all-important clerics are less belligerent than President Ahmadinejad - whether we face a steady 'disengagement' or something more humiliating.

We must certainly disabuse ourselves of any notion that Afghanistan is easier to handle than Iraq - indeed that we are doing any good there.

Afghanistan is a perfect battleground for rural guerrillas. The country is a patchwork of rival tribes, competing war-lords and ferocious drug barons.

Only

ONE CAUSE

-can seriously unite the population

-Fighting the Foreign Invader.

We still seem to forget how we discovered that twice in the 19th century and the Russians recently [with their 100,000 plus troops and with the most sophisticated weaponry available and all they got for their trouble was thousands of casualties and vengeful neighbours]

It is impossible there to tell friend from foe.

-impossible to ignore the Islamic Jihadists who have been arriving in response to the Western presence. We hear reports of military successes by the British or American troops against  guerrilla forces, but usually with kill-ratios which look highly suspect.

IT IS REMINISCENT OF VIETNAM.

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WHAT USE is the Nato-led .i.e., American-led operation in Agfghanistan?

The cliches tumble out:

Ensuring Security

Stability

Reconstruction

Safeguarding

-what are dubbed' all-embracing development plans' -and so on.

The troops are also supposed to prevent a resurgence of the Taliban.

Curb the extensive opium trade and safeguard the elected Government in Kabul.

[Its true designation is the Government of Kabul.]

The idea of 'reconstruction' in a country which had next to no infrastructure to construct was always odd. The belief that the country's farmers would abandon poppy farming [was poppy-cock], which paid so well was fanciful. In the early days, they accepted payments for destroying these crops - and promptly grew more in the expectation of further handouts.

As a matter of course, the Americans - who never knew when to stop - insisted on installing an elected Government after the initial and successful operation to avenge the terror of 9/11. As those who knew anything about Afghanistan expected, its writ outside Kabul did not run for long.

- the people we are really helping in Afghanistan are the Jihadist recruiters.

According to Tony Bliar a few months ago, there is no

' more important struggle for global security [To get rid of Anthony Bliar] in the 21st century

-than the Afghanistan operation.

This is exaggeration bordering on hysteria.

We need our forces to 'disengage' in Afghanistan - before we are forced out. And the [so-called] Opposition front bench should disengage from the consensus soon.

STANDING UP FOR THE ARMED FORCES MEANS MORE THAN JUST FUSSING ABOUT THEIR EQUIPMENT.

IT MEANS KEEPING THEM FROM UNNECESSARY

DANGER!

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[Font Altered-Bolding &Underlining Used-Comments in Brackets]

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www.thewestminsternews.co.uk

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www.speakout.co.uk

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Daniel Hannan - Forming an OPPOSITION to the EU

www.telegraph.co.uk.blogs

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GORDON BROWN WANTS TRUST-BUT WHY WON'T HE TRUST YOU?

HELL ON EARTH IN IRAQ

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67% want powers back from EU-ICM poll-June 21-2007-95% of British people want a REFERENDUM

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PETITION

FOR A

REFERENDUM

SIGN TODAY ON LINE

telegraph.co.uk/eureferendum

*  July 18-2007

ALSO

JOIN THE 10 DOWNING STREET PROTEST

Readers can add their support to the growing clamour for a REFERENDUM on the '"REFORM TREATY" by signing up to a 10 Downing Street 0n-line petition

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EU-treaty-NON/

The  Petition reads as follows:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to guarantee that the British people will be permitted a binding REFERENDUM on any and all attempts to resurrect the EU " CONSTITUTION" (and any or all of its content) regardless of nomenclature."

Deadline for the PETITION is 31st January,2008

Eurofacts 27th July 2007.

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'The Spirit of England'

by

Winston Churchill

In London on St.George's Day -1953

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VOTE

 -2007

TO LEAVE THE EUROPEAN UNION

WITH THE ONLY PARTY WITH A MANDATE

TO SET YOU

 FREE

THE

UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY

www.ukip.org

THE QUESTION THAT THE VOTER MUST ANSWER

‘DO YOU WISH TO BE GOVERNED BY YOUR OWN PEOPLE, LAW AND CUSTOM OR BY THE CORRUPT ,EXPENSIVE UNACCOUNTABLE AND CORRUPT ALIEN BUSYBODY BRUSSELS’

-SIMPLE IS IT NOT?

TO RECLAIM YOUR DEMOCRACY DON'T VOTE FOR THE TRIPARTITE PARTIES IN WESTMINSTER

BUT

SMALL PARTIES THAT SPEAK THEIR MINDS WITHOUT SPIN AND LIES.

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ONLY

PRO-PORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

WILL BRING DEMOCRACY BACK TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

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SCOTLAND -ITS PARLIAMENT -WALES-ITS ASSEMBLY-ENGLAND-STILL AWAITS ITS PARLIAMENT-WHY?

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Home Rule for Scotland

WHY NOT

HOME RULE for ENGLAND

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[All underlined words have a separate bulletin