The rest of The Voice’s Daily View team may have decided to have a lie in each morning during August, but we’re made of sterner stuff here on the Sunday slot (for the moment). And as it’s a Sunday, it’s also time for another instalment of singing.
2 Big Stories
UK ‘may have 40-year Afghan role’
So reports the BBC:
The UK’s commitment to Afghanistan could last for up to 40 years, the incoming head of the Army has said.
Gen Sir David Richards, who takes over on 28 August, told the Times that “nation-building” would last decades.
Troops will be required for the medium term only, but the UK will continue to play a role in “development, governance [and] security sector reform,” he said.
Iran
Britain condemned the trial of an Iranian employee of its Tehran embassy on spying charges on Saturday, calling it an “outrage” and saying it breached past assurances from senior Iranian officials.
Political analyst Hossein Rassam is on trial with Iranian moderates and a French citizen accused of involvement in the political unrest which followed the Islamic Republic’s disputed June presidential election – unrest that Iran says Britain and other Western countries have fuelled.
“I am deeply concerned by the unjustified charges today laid against Hossein Rassam,” said British Foreign Minister David Miliband. (Reuters)
2 Must-Read Blog Posts
- Simon Goldie has a thoughtful take on how liberals should approach the airbrushing of photos: This blog has not been airbrushed.
- Mark Valladares on Liberal Bureaucracy talks about awards and one particular person who certainly should be honoured (hear hear): And what’s wrong with award ceremonies anyway?
Sunday Bonus
As is now nearly traditional, here’s another song about computing. This time it is Microsoft getting the musical love:
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4 Comments
“development, governance [and] security sector reform,”
It’s called Colonialism.
Hear hear, Martin. (Here, here?)
Different stories all collected into one posting. So what ought we respond to?
The most important one is the 40 year war in Afghanistan (or 48 if you include the 8 years we have already been there).
The present generation of politicians and military commanders can graefully retire and pass on the responsibility to someone else.
It is a terrible legacy. Whilst it is true that the war in Iraq was a stupid thing to do for many reasons, including the fact that we were still occupying Afghanistan and we couldn’t fight on 2 fronts, we have to make a judgement on the situation as we find it today.
If you believe that our occupation of Afghanistan can do good and ultimately succeed, then the basis for believing that must now be at the optimum. US/UK troops are leaving Iraq. The US has a president with more sense than that of the last 4 put together. The need to win the hearts of minds of Aghanis? Well the current president, we are told, has “got it”. He accepts that that is very important.
Yet we continue to hear stories about how our troops gain territory from the Taliban, only to find that the people revert back to supporting the Taliban as they did before.
The evidence suggests that despite a unique set of favourable circumstances the US/UK occupation is making things worse rather than better.
When we are told to expect the war to last for 40 years. This is a way of avoiding making a judgement of success or failure. You can always say that we will win, but we haven’t done so yet.
We should see through this spin. This message comes from a military planner rather than a government minister, which in itself is a way of spinning this story. And when he says 40 years, he might as well say that what this really means is that he has no idea how to realistically win this war.
Since this war cannot be won, the sooner we pull out the better.
The `Afghanistan Question’ is the most profound one for our Country to deliberate, for as long and beyond, as the public resolve exists to maintain a British military role and peace mission presence , in this region by the British Government.I make these comments:
1.The main authority and strategic perception of how and why to continue in Afghanistan resides with authoritative assessments of what is possible to achieve by our supremely brave military personnel and the credibilty of tactics and forcasts of Lord Paddy Ashdown and Gen.David Richards are the best we have on this conflict.
2.There has been much comment made as to why our soldiers are not being better protected by transport helicopters and anti-device armoured personnel carriers in the field : and I ask why is n’t it possible for the US to `lease lend’ their superior MWRAP armoured convoy vehicles to our British troops?
3.I believe that each individual soldier and air crew in Afghanistan stationed there, are all uniquely patriotic and have demonstrated the same courage of action, as the tributes of Henry Allingham and Harry Patch -the last of the British home soil combatants in WW1, whom defended liberty,so gallantly, at Paschendaele and in the Battle of Jutland.
4.Each lost soldier is loved and a son,a brother,a father or husband or mother or daughter and all `Never Forgotten’.
5.I suggest that the veteran wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan be given seats of honour at the London Olympics 2012. .