Dispatches from the sandpit.
How to be sure that your death in service of "Queen and country" will actually make the news?
1. Be an attractive woman
2. Be a rank higher than the very lowest, those who usually can be ripped apart by bombs and who will only merit a mention at the next week's prime ministers questions
It's worth remembering that none of the main three parties oppose the utter lunacy which is our current policy in Afghanistan, where we serve as target practice for an enemy that is not going to be defeated unless we swamp the entire country with troops, which is not going to go away not matter how many years we spend there propping up a regime which we actively dislike, and where the only thing that makes this even approaching a "good" war is that most civilians seem to prefer the occasional 500lb bomb being dropped in their vicinity over the wearying tyranny which the Taliban and various other warlords impose. No amount of counter-insurgency theories or theorists are going to make the difference when you face an enemy which has been fighting for nigh on 30 years, and is not going to suddenly stop no matter how many hearts and minds you win or how many of them you kill. The sooner our politicians realise that this war is even more unwinnable than the Iraq one was, where the insurgents themselves eventually turned on the most brutal amongst them, the sooner the body bags of all our soldiers will stop being brought back.
1. Be an attractive woman
2. Be a rank higher than the very lowest, those who usually can be ripped apart by bombs and who will only merit a mention at the next week's prime ministers questions
It's worth remembering that none of the main three parties oppose the utter lunacy which is our current policy in Afghanistan, where we serve as target practice for an enemy that is not going to be defeated unless we swamp the entire country with troops, which is not going to go away not matter how many years we spend there propping up a regime which we actively dislike, and where the only thing that makes this even approaching a "good" war is that most civilians seem to prefer the occasional 500lb bomb being dropped in their vicinity over the wearying tyranny which the Taliban and various other warlords impose. No amount of counter-insurgency theories or theorists are going to make the difference when you face an enemy which has been fighting for nigh on 30 years, and is not going to suddenly stop no matter how many hearts and minds you win or how many of them you kill. The sooner our politicians realise that this war is even more unwinnable than the Iraq one was, where the insurgents themselves eventually turned on the most brutal amongst them, the sooner the body bags of all our soldiers will stop being brought back.
Labels: Afghanistan, foreign policy, madness, war against bullshit
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yes, the Mirror headline - linking the death of Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe to Charles and thus justifying a front page headline - was particularly galling. More of a surprise was the BBC coverage which almost matched this for allocating points for rank. The Beeb even dragged out Col H. Jones's widow for an interview.
Maybe it's just a nagging prejudice of mine, but I didn't go to school with many Ruperts.
I also remember (from the time of Jones's death)History lessons telling us Afghanistan was unconquerable. At about the same time the Soviet union was finding that out.
Posted by
eric the fish |
Saturday, July 04, 2009 1:49:00 am
Spot on with which deaths are deemed 'newsworthy'. And its even more blatant when it comes to Johnny Foreigner, where the death of 'Militants' - or whatever euphemism for alleged 'Enemies' the dead ones seems to best fit - are earnestly celebrated, whilst 'collateral damage' is carefully obfuscated or, wherever possible, buried or ignored altogether. How's the body count going in these crusading Western Wars against 'The Axis of Evil' (or Blair's 'Arc of Extremism' - remember that one?) do you reckon? - 100:1?, 1,000:1?. 10,000:1? 100,000:1? maybe? - who knows? - and more to the point who the hell cares when they're only Ragheads and we're trying, at great personal sacrifice, 'to do the right thing'. What a truly heroic nation we are eh? Pass the bloody sick bag.
Surprised you didn't mention Oil pipeline routes; the US Silk Road Strategy Act; Brzezinski's 'Grand Chessboard' - you know stuff like that - and our lapdog-like participation the whole sordid, evil, self-serving bloody mess.
Posted by
Sabretache |
Saturday, July 04, 2009 8:27:00 am
Look at it this way. A staff officer goes somewhere where he could be in danger - that's so unusual as to be newsworthy.
Posted by
Jemmy Hope |
Sunday, July 05, 2009 2:40:00 pm
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