Nick Clegg is wrong in his analysis with regard to Afghanistan. The trouble is that it has at last dawned on the military that it is futile to get the soldiers involved in a fight with the Taliban, or freedom fighters as some would call them. The reason is that we have relied too much on the planes and drones to bail out the soldiers. They know that when they are in crisis the soldiers call-up an air strike or drone and then a whole area is bombed with many civilian casualties. There is no more hearts and minds. All you have to do is think 'Blitzkrieg' and you may begin to understand the strategy.
However, Clegg is right in one respect, this is just a waste of life.I consider that the parades held for the returning brave soldiers is actually a pathetic charade, as is the reading out of the names of the dead in parliament every wednesday. Do you seriously think that Brown will come on to our screens every wednesday while the politicians are on holiday to read out the names of the dead. Imagine during WWI if the failed politicians read out the names of the dead after the battle of the Somme. Why do you think that they decided very early in the war that the dead would be buried where they died rather than bring them home for burial. The war would never have lasted for as long as it did. We must announce our withdrawal from Afghanistan, probably as soon as the elections have been held. It has all been an expensive waste of lives and people.
The war was won in 2001, look at the number of deaths on the BBC site, look at the causes of death. That tells the real story.
Afghanistan
Nick Clegg is wrong in his analysis with regard to Afghanistan. The trouble is that it has at last dawned on the military that it is futile to get the soldiers involved in a fight with the Taliban, or freedom fighters as some would call them. The reason is that we have relied too much on the planes and drones to bail out the soldiers. They know that when they are in crisis the soldiers call-up an air strike or drone and then a whole area is bombed with many civilian casualties. There is no more hearts and minds. All you have to do is think 'Blitzkrieg' and you may begin to understand the strategy.
However, Clegg is right in one respect, this is just a waste of life.I consider that the parades held for the returning brave soldiers is actually a pathetic charade, as is the reading out of the names of the dead in parliament every wednesday. Do you seriously think that Brown will come on to our screens every wednesday while the politicians are on holiday to read out the names of the dead. Imagine during WWI if the failed politicians read out the names of the dead after the battle of the Somme. Why do you think that they decided very early in the war that the dead would be buried where they died rather than bring them home for burial. The war would never have lasted for as long as it did. We must announce our withdrawal from Afghanistan, probably as soon as the elections have been held. It has all been an expensive waste of lives and people.
The war was won in 2001, look at the number of deaths on the BBC site, look at the causes of death. That tells the real story.