Men must not be asked to die for politicians too weak or too vain to admit their mistake

August 17, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

This country and its people have paid in blood many times for things that matter to us – for our liberty and independence, for our national survival. We are more used to such things than most other nations and we are stoical about it.

We are also justly proud of our fighting services, who do their hard duty with a calm and admirable competence and humour and in a civilised and lawful way.

And our first instinct when a soldier dies in battle is to honour him and comfort the bereaved, without politics or rancour.

That is quite right. Heaven knows, we have few enough things we can be truly proud of in Britain nowadays but our Army, with its discipline, self-sacrifice and sheer doggedness, is one of them.

But we do not cease to think or reason, just because we are at war.

And this conflict in Afghanistan is not like any other war we have ever fought. Last night, the butcher’s bill reached a figure we were never led to expect. The Defence Secretary who despatched our troops to Helmand never expected it either.

Neither he nor his successors nor the Government – nor the Conservative Opposition – have ever explained to us or their own MPs what British soldiers are doing in Afghanistan.

The explanation shifts and wobbles as the months pass. One minute, we are global social workers, then a sort of drugs squad, then we are promoting feminism or training the Afghan army.

Or perhaps we are introducing ‘democracy’ in a country where men vote as their tribal leaders tell them.

As a last resort, we are spun some tale that by fighting over mud villages near Lashkar Gah, we are protecting Britain from terrorist plots – though all the evidence shows that terrorist plots can be and are begun in Britain, with no aid from supposed ‘training camps’ in Afghanistan. Read full article…