ࡱ > 3 5 2 5@ 0 ^ bjbj22 . X X ^ * $ R + " + @ *7' ( V 0 $ @ R = n + + d X d X opinion: Mission Afghanistan Brian Cloughley British politicians, especially the deeply insipid Prime Minister Gordon Brown, want people to believe their foolish Afghan adventure is essential because, they say, there are still terror plots in progressThere is talk of the war in Afghanistan being Obamas Vietnam, but while there are some similarities the main thing of note is that the Afghan war was begun by a group of malevolent bullies in Washington who were addicted to violence and held that diplomacy was for fainthearted. Their arrogance was illustrated by use of overwhelming military power.But President Obama seems to be less partial to the policy of joy through strength than was his appalling predecessor. Ms Clinton, his feisty Secretary of State, while not averse to flexing American muscle, has demonstrated subtlety and sagacity, thanks to Mr Obamas guidance.It is not the fault of either of them that Iraq has been wrecked as a country, with continuing atrocities causing scores of deaths. It is not their fault that two million Iraqi refugees are living lives of desperation in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, or that there are over two million internally displaced refugees whose lives have been shattered by Americas war.Such has been the legacy of Bush-Cheney in Iraq; but what of their war on Afghanistan?Unfortunately, developments in the Afghan war are reminiscent of the Vietnam debacle, which was embraced without long-term planning, and there seems to have been little change. In his superb book about the Vietnam war, The Best and the Brightest, the late David Halberstam described a meeting between President Lyndon Johnson and retired General Ridgeway, who had saved the day for US and UN forces in the Korean war.Ridgeway had reservations about Americas war in Vietnam, and Johnson asked his advice in 1968 when the commander in Vietnam was the curiously ingenuous General Westmoreland. So Ridgeway went to the White House with Vice President Humphrey to talk about it. Johnson was called to the telephone and then: Ridgeway turned to Humphrey and said there was one thing about the war that puzzled him. Whats that? Humphrey asked. I have never known what the mission for General Westmoreland was, Ridgeway said. Thats a good question, said Humphrey. Ask the President. But when Johnson returned he immediately got into one of his long monologues about his problems...and the question was never asked.Neither has it been asked forcefully in Washington or London concerning Afghanistan. The British foreign minister, one David Miliband, said last month that This is a mission thats been developed with a very clear strategy: above all, to make us safer here because we know these areas of Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan are used to launch terrorism around the world. So the mission for us is clear.But no clear mission has been enunciated in military terms.British and American and other soldiers are being killed in Afghanistan, and their deaths are not making the world a less dangerous place. Further, British soldiers are dying because there are far too few of them to secure the vast area for which they have been given responsibility by the politicians. They are dying because they lack essential equipment, courtesy of a criminally incompetent defence ministry. They are dying because nobody knows how to stop the slaughter.The smug and ignorant machine politician Miliband, barely comprehensible in his ungrammatical spluttering, declared that the war in Afghanistan is a security challenge of the highest order. Its based on real facts about murder thats being done [sic] to British citizens both in Britain and around the world from this place...70 percent of the terrorist plots that are pursued in Britain are linked to the badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan.(This is the oaf who said in an interview a few days ago that he believed there are times when which terrorism is justifiable, and yes, there are circumstances in which it is effective. Of course he was talking about terrorist bombers of the African National Congress killing people in South Africa, which atrocities are, to him, different from other terrorist murders.)But lets look at the Miliband assertion that 70 percent of terrorist plots in Britain are linked to the badlands.There have been two recent terrorist attacks in Britain: in London in July 2005 and Glasgow in June 2007. There were also two abortive bombing attempts in the same months.Of the perpetrators, none came from the badlands. All were British residents or citizens, and planning took place in Britain.But British politicians, especially the deeply insipid Prime Minister Gordon Brown, want people to believe their foolish Afghan adventure is essential because, they say, there are still terror plots in progress. Mind you, he conjured up a different percentage figure: according to Brown, 75 percent of plots were laid in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Any advance on 75 percent?He burbled that We are trying to deal with the terrorist threat to prevent attacks here [the UK] and elsewhere, and three quarters of the most serious plots against the UK have links into these [Afghan] mountains.How many of these plots are there? If there are eight, then six are linked; if there are 60, then 45. But if Brown knows exactly how many which he must do, otherwise he couldnt state precisely that three quarters of them come from these mountains then why are there no prosecutions? Surely they cant all be bubbling away, with all details known by the spooks and the government, without action being taken? Why not arrest some of these dangerous terrorists?Brown declared in July that Britains Afghan war is a patriotic duty, which is always an attractive fallback position for politicians. It was Doctor Samuel Johnson who said that that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, and he certainly summed up prime minister Brown and his dismal entourage, who, at a loss to explain their shambles in Afghanistan, continue to sacrifice the lives of British soldiers.What is the mission of foreign troops in Afghanistan?Good question. But there are no good answers. - . / 2 ] ^ hTU hF| hF| 6] j hF| UmH nH u hF| hF| 6CJ ]aJ hF| hF| CJ aJ . ] ^ gdF| gdF| ^ 1h/ =!"#$% FY 3V[N /Ef JFIF I I C !! %'('% 004400@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ C((1% %1,/(((/,661166@@?@@@@@@@@@@@@ R K = !A1Q"2aq#3B$4Rrsb + !1AqQa"rR23B ? }I%}sA f@CKSaԞA 6lݸ@:%eȪw{S<3]$=Ce1ۏ5#B0LrЧf1@^f:B\gr 9US#|53n'in˻cMw$MS-|814&e!7tc!Áhl94uBcf튍txDqx-&e2rH@=V}d=^TsntZkǘ4m*POŔz~dQɰLg