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BLOODY BETRAYAL BY BLAIR
BLUNDERS BELIES BELEAGUERED
BRAVE BRITONS BLOOD BATH BATTLE BECKONS BEYOND BABYLONIAN BORDERS. * BLOODY BETRAYAL
BY Max Hastings
* Daily MailSaturday, July 8-2006 In this
denunciation
Military
historian
MAX HASTING
Argues that MINISTERS Have contemptuously Lied about Afghanistan -Leaving our Desperately Undermanned army To make good Blair’s bad cheques in blood JUST before
leaving for my first trip to Vietnam in 1970, I telephoned a veteran
correspondent for advice. ‘Just remember’, he said, ‘they lie, they lie,
they lie.’ By ‘they’, of course, he meant American politicians, diplomats and commanders, and he was absolutely right. The ‘credibility gap’ in Vietnam - the chasm between what Americans claimed was happening
and WHAT actually DID- contributed mightily to the final DEBACLE. Britain’s involvement in Afghanistan is miniscule compared with Vietnam were 600,000 -
American troops were committed in the worst days of 1968. OUR deployment in Helmand province has scarcely begun. Yet
already the British Government has opened a credibility gap as shameful as the
Americans sponsored in Saigon. It lies,
it lies, it lies. After the killings of three British soldiers within days,
Tony Blair this week pledged to give our troops whatever they need in
Afghanistan. HIS
WORDS ARE A MOCKERY The Army, already desperately over-stretched, has scarcely
an extra unit to commit to Helmand. Even if it did, there are no helicopters to
move them. The Prime Minister cannot
magic Chinooks out of a hat, and well he knows it. Helicopters are vital because there is no other effective
way for troops to get around an area as big as Scotland. Adding an extra battalion or two to the 3,300 British
troops on the ground in Helmand is a token. [As we have already been told ONLY approximately 600 of the 3,300
mentioned above are the cutting -edge -the spearhead -a battalion which could
be lost in one of the thousands of valleys and ravines in that dangerous and
desolate landscape.] In
Blair’s Britain we have had gesture [SPIN] Education Health Policy Justice Policy NOW
in Afghanistan, the Prime Minister gives gesture military strategy. To
explain we need to go back to the beginning. In 2001, with modest British support the U.S. invaded
Afghanistan to depose the Taliban Government, an exceptionally nasty tyranny
which was providing bases and support for Al Qaeda. Almost the entire Western world endorsed the action. It was thought a proper response to the
terrorist destruction to 9/11. The Taliban swiftly collapsed. Its fights fled
to the mountains or over the border into Pakistan. WITH the job done - ‘mission accomplished’ as George Bush
idiotically declared after Baghdad was taken two years later. - The Americans
pulled out most of their forces. Those who remained were tasked merely to
pursue Osama bin laden and Al Qaeda. N the surge if international goodwill following 9/11 and
the Taliban’s fall, NATO’s members agreed to take over from the Americans
responsibility for helping the precarious new Afghan regime to secure the
country, install democracy and build its own forces. All manner of little contingents descended on Kabul: 750-Turks; 17-Czechs; 10- Estonians; 9-Latvians; 4-Swiss; larger bodies from bigger countries, to a total earlier this year of 9000. The NATO force mustered
what would be enough soldiers to stage a showy old-style Royal Tournament at
Earls Court. YET this was only a tiny
fraction of he army that would have been needed to do the business in Afghanistan. Once the shock of 9/11 faded and the Bush administration
embarked o it’s hugely mismanaged and unpopular invasion of Iraq, European
enthusiasm fast receded for participating in American adventures in the MUSLIM
WORLD. When push came to shove, most of the NATO members produced
fewer men and much less cash than had been promised. Of the European soldiers who got to Kabul, most were forbidden to
leave the Capital because far-flung provinces seemed too dangerous. Their government were
willing to let them dig wells, train policemen or guard a clinic, but were
determined not to have their nationals killed fighting guerrillas. The Kabul region became relatively secure. Elections were
held. U.S. troops and aircraft continued their ruthless campaign against Al
Qaeda in the mountains, killing too many civilians to win popular support. Across
most of the country however, local warlords, who have dominated Afghanistan for
most of its history, regained control. The story gets worse. Although the Americans were
notionally committed to supporting the government in Kabul, they decided there
was no realistic hope of supplanting the warlords’ authority in distant
provinces. THUS Washington made a devil’s bargain and gave cash and
arms to some uncommonly nasty people. In the absence of any legitimate economy or effective
government, opium production soared.
Poppy production doubled between 2002 and 2004. In 1999, under the
Taliban opium was grown in only 18 of Afghanistan’s provinces; to day flourishes
in all 32. The opium trade now accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s economic activity. Afghan poppies provide raw material for 87 per cent of global heroin production. The principle achievement
of Western intervention in Afghanistan, therefore, has been to create the
world’s leading narcotic state. It was often and rightly said that the Taliban ruled by
medieval principles of Justice. Today there is NO justice at all. It is impossible for a Westerner to travel safely outside
Kabul, save in military convoy. Afghanistan ranks in the bottom 1 per cent of
nations for the effectiveness of its rule of law. Washington’s blunder of course, matched that in Iraq. The
Bushites said: ‘We don’t do nation-building’ [only destroying sovereign
nations] They were uninterested in what happened to Afghanistan once
the Taliban were deposed, except to maintain an open season for Bin
Laden-hunting, with laser-guided munitions and U.S Special Forces who make do
with slaughtering the odd wedding party when they are unable to find
guerrillas. The British Army today has 3,300 men in Helmand Province -as partial replacements for the Americans who have left
because they are so over stretched in Iraq. We are supposed to be responsible for leading the
entire NATO mission -though
because of the tangle of multi-national committees, we have less effective
executive control than the average primary school teacher. Tony Blair and his Ministers promised our soldiers would be
committed to assisting Afghan reconstruction- training local soldiers, building
clinics and such like. YET, whether they like it or not, they have been deployed
on the battlefield. Americans are still carrying out search- and-rescue
missions against Al Qaeda, a few miles down the road. The Taliban’s guerrillas
are delighted to be presented with Western soldiers to shoot at. They could not
care less if Mr Blair intended our boys merely to act as baby-sitters. Any serious attempt to interfere with the opium trade would
provoke heavy fighting, because it provides the livelihoods of most of the
population. Ask any British officer to explain on one side of a sheet
our objectives or the chain of command and he will still be chewing his pencil
an hour later. The Government’s Big
lie is to pretend our operations in Afghanistan -are coherent. The theory is that we are helping the Afghans to build up
forces effective enough to look after themselves. The reality is that the Kabul government controls about
80,000 troops and police, who periodically fight each other and are hopelessly
under-strength. If the mess does not make you angry, it should. This is a predicament,
which nobody [in the Government] foresaw. Everyone who knew anything about
Afghanistan forecast it from the outlet. The British, as usual are trying much harder than any of
our European partners to make their mission work. But even our finest soldiers
cannot push water uphill. Every casualty is a
tragedy, but no one would flinch from some losses, if these were incurred in an
operation that might succeed. As it is, I know no responsible senior officer, serving or
retired, who believes this job is do-able with the forces we can deploy, even
if Colchester and Catterick were stripped of every cook and bottle-washer to
reinforce Helmand. To be fair to Mr Blair - always a hard thing to do -
Britain bears less responsibility than most for the mess we find ourselves in. THE U.S. is the principal betrayer of Afghanistan. Colin
Powell memorably explained the ‘china shop rules’ -to President Bush when he was Secretary of State: ‘You break it, you own
it’ By invading Afghanistan,
albeit for good reasons, the U.S. accepted responsibility for piecing together
the wreckage - and has failed because it never really tried. European NATO nations claimed to be willing to help rebuild
the country -and have betrayed their commitments. They have sent only token
forces. They have been parsimonious with mere money, -never mind blood. We shall all be the losers if, as seems likely the West is
eventually forced to abandon Afghanistan to become, once again, the haven of
terrorists and drug traffickers. We shall have shown that we lack the will and skill to
restore a failed state. This will be a
shocking indictment of what we laughingly call ‘the International Community’ * [The failure is down to BUSH and BLAIR as they should have
shown example of good international relations BUT decided to embark on an
illegal war and forget about the RULE
OF LAW The way each dictator has manipulated its Foreign Policy to
maintain Office and gain greater CONTROL is there for all to see.] Great nations such as Germany and France make gestures, but
in reality have turned their back on Afghanistan. [Well Germany has for a century and possibly longer used
its MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CONNECTION -to undermine British Foreign Policy. Since the formation of the EU -France is hand in hand with
Germany and they are now ONE in foreign nations eyes. They must be congratulating themselves on their success in
undermining ENGLAND and AMERICA which it has been
their ambition for so long? France and Germany will have obtained their reward from the
Islamic connection and must be laughing all the way to the BANK] To
Continue: GREAT nations such as Germany and France make gestures, but
in reality have turned their backs on Afghanistan. They hope that if they can avoid getting their soldiers
killed and keep their distance from the U.S. adventures, they can save
themselves from the murderous wrath of the MUSLIM WORLD. A tiny force of British
soldiers however brave and able cannot compensate for pour European partners
huge act of cynicism. The British Army will go on trying in Afghanistan, of
course, because that what it always does. Its ‘can-do’ spirit provides one of
the reasons why we admire it so much. * [We ask WHY we should
accept this situation when it is so obvious that the background to the matter
shows that it is NOT our RESPONSIBILTY A few nights ago we watched the gripping ‘BLITZ’ on LONDON’ -Programme and when one who like so many others in our
country experienced the events in the Second World War one was hoping that the terrifying onslaught on England by
the Hitler’s air armada would when their resident reporters report back home to
the USA would bring their country into the war to stand with ENGLAND
in defence of the FREE WORLD - but as with the situation in the Great War our cousins
the other side of the pool let our nation get fully blooded FIRST and their
delay in the Second World War resulted in our Nation mortgaging its assets from
the past and this has been so ever SINCE. We are inescapable with the TRUE ! USA
from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln
to Theodore Roosevelt to Woodrow Wilson to Franklin D. Roosevelt to John F
Kennedy… and what they passionately stood for - JUSTICE and INTEGRITY Of THEIR GREAT FREE NATION STATE.] To
continue: If Gordon Brown wants to do something useful for our Armed
Forces, rather than play politics with Trident, he could start seeing that
soldiers are paid properly. A significant number of
our men in Afghanistan as well as Iraq depend on Tax credits - state benefits -
to support themselves and their families. This is a shameful reflection on
SERVICE PAY. I have written here before about the scandal of the Army’s
dependence on armoured Land Rovers -entirely inadequate vehicles in landmine
country. MORE helicopters cannot be found in weeks or even
months-but they must be at least ordered. * [As we have already
outlined before that MoD have at least 67 -Apache helicopters, which it had
mothballed because it had no trained pilots to fly them. The helicopters cost
over 48,000,000
each instead of ordering direct from the USA at a price of: 28,000,000
each So the bulk of our 67
helicopters are in storage while only 6 are in service in Afghanistan while troops in Iraq and
in other fire fights in the world have to be content with lightly armed Land
Rovers. As outlined in D.Mail-Wednesday, July5-2006-The problem was that the Apache had: just
entered service
after years of delays , in heavy demand in the UK for training crews.] * To
continue: For years now, the Prime Minister has committed the British
Army to conduct a global crusade in fulfilment of his political fantasies * [And YOUR MEMBERS of the HOUSE of COMMONS spend THEIR TIME
counting THEIR not so small SALARY and BENEFITS of £284,000 a year -So WHY should they concern themselves with getting off
their backsides and standing up in YOUR HOUSE to see their brave soldiers get
the equipment THEY NEED to protect THEIR LIVES and bring them HOME within the
next few months. As has been said: -‘People get the Government they Deserve’ BUT we will add you ALSO GET THE HOUSE OF COMMONS you deserve -after all most of YOU did vote for THEM- Did
you Not?] * To
continue: The manpower shortage is deeply worrying: not only did the
GOVERNMENT -deliberately cut Army numbers, it has also presided over a
slump in recruitment, because mothers and fathers do not want their sons to
risk their lives in Mr Blair’s campaigns. I do not think the British Army will suffer a disaster in Afghanistan.
Its men are more than a match for Taliban guerrillas, and its commanders will
ensure that heir men do not stick out their necks out too far. But soldiers
will continue to DIE. The Prime Minister lies when he says that Britain’s Afghan
mission is capable of fulfilment. No one sensible ever thought it was. We should have nothing but contempt for the GOVERNMENT -which is presiding overran unholy mess, leaving OUR ARMY -To make good Tony Blair’s bad cheques in it’s BLOOD. * * * [In history of which Tony Blair has NO interest it has
shown that even ONE misguided individual can cause such DISASTER -as a certain Corporal from the GREAT WAR -so succinctly stated in MEIN KAMPF. The RISE of HITLER was an indictment of the GERMAN PEOPLE. ‘The great masses of the
people…will more easily fall victims to a great lie than a small one.’ [Mein Kampf, Ch.10] The RISE of BLAIR was an indictment of the BRITISH PEOPLE -not once-not twice but three chances where missed to remove a DICTATOR. THE FAULT IS OURS? * * * [Font altered -bolding & underlining used -comments in
brackets] JULY/06
* *
*
* [Latest Addition - June07] * * *
*
Daniel Hannan - Forming an OPPOSITION to the EU
*
VOTE MAY -2007
WITH THE ONLY PARTY WITH A MANDATE TO SET YOU FREE
THE UK INDEPENDENCE PARTY
TO RECLAIM YOUR DEMOCRACY DON'T VOTE FOR THE TRIPARTITE PARTIES IN WESTMINSTER BUT SMALL PARTIES THAT SPEAK THEIR MINDS WITHOUT SPIN AND LIES. *
ONLY WILL BRING DEMOCRACY BACK TO THE ENGLISH PEOPLE *
* MAY/07
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