So, Afghanistan how will it end up?
Poll: So, Afghanistan how will it end up?
Total Members Polled: 195
Discussion
Listening to Radio 5 this morning and the 'mothers phone call' with Gordon Brown it really brought home what people think of him. She gave him both barrels, and rightly so.
ETA: just found out that Gordon Brown made time to write to Jon Terry after he missed his penalty in the Chapions League final two years ago and made time to visit Ozzy Osbourne when he fell off of his quad bike....this pretty much negates the effort he goes to when writing to berieved families.
I thought she had a valid point when she asked him why he could pump millions into saving the banks, but not into the MOD budget to buy equipment and helicopters.
I have my own views on this, but I have to be careful in what I say.......
ETA: just found out that Gordon Brown made time to write to Jon Terry after he missed his penalty in the Chapions League final two years ago and made time to visit Ozzy Osbourne when he fell off of his quad bike....this pretty much negates the effort he goes to when writing to berieved families.
I thought she had a valid point when she asked him why he could pump millions into saving the banks, but not into the MOD budget to buy equipment and helicopters.
I have my own views on this, but I have to be careful in what I say.......
Edited by Cara Van Man on Tuesday 10th November 09:44
Reckon we'll be there for ages - the government are too spineless to lose face.
ETA - I don't necessarily agree with pulling out as I think jobs should be seen through. I just can't see it ending satisfactorily no matter how long we're there for.
ETA - I don't necessarily agree with pulling out as I think jobs should be seen through. I just can't see it ending satisfactorily no matter how long we're there for.
Edited by lazyitus on Tuesday 10th November 09:56
We should pull out now. History says you can't win a war in Afghanistan especially a very half hearted, underfunded effort by the current government. The Russians couldn't do it with virtually unlimited resources in the '80's. The men & women on the ground are all total heroes. The people in Whitehall are not fit to 'eat the weevils outa my shiite'
Dunno.
At the moment its just being held at a stalemate isn't it? If there is a (very) big US troop surge, or if the pakistanis finish the job on their side of the border, then I could perhaps see the Taliban being beaten.
I think that the longer it goes on for like this, the less support we will get from the locals and it will eventually end up with us either pulling out with the politico's claiming victory or us atually being forced out.
At the moment its just being held at a stalemate isn't it? If there is a (very) big US troop surge, or if the pakistanis finish the job on their side of the border, then I could perhaps see the Taliban being beaten.
I think that the longer it goes on for like this, the less support we will get from the locals and it will eventually end up with us either pulling out with the politico's claiming victory or us atually being forced out.
I don't know how long we will stay but I know that when we leave nothing will have changed except the death toll.
Leaving will be down to politics rather than stratagy, ie when the politicians can not stomach the publics loathing. We will stay for a while to stand shoulder to shoulder with the US.
History has shown that the Afgans fight, if not us then each other. As a set of peoples (they aren't a nation in there own eyes)they aren't ready for the Western idea of a country let alone democracy.
It will be bloody, it will be long and it will be futile.
Good luck to anyone who finds themselves out there. Stay safe.
Leaving will be down to politics rather than stratagy, ie when the politicians can not stomach the publics loathing. We will stay for a while to stand shoulder to shoulder with the US.
History has shown that the Afgans fight, if not us then each other. As a set of peoples (they aren't a nation in there own eyes)they aren't ready for the Western idea of a country let alone democracy.
It will be bloody, it will be long and it will be futile.
Good luck to anyone who finds themselves out there. Stay safe.
Cara Van Man said:
Listening to Radio 5 this morning and the 'mothers phone call' with Gordon Brown it really brought home what people think of him. She gave him both barrels, and rightly so.
ETA: just found out that Gordon Brown made time to write to Jon Terry after he missed his penalty in the Chapions League final two years ago and made time to visit Ozzy Osbourne when he fell off of his quad bike....this pretty much negates the effort he goes to when writing to berieved families.
I thought she had a valid point when she asked him why he could pump millions into saving the banks, but not into the MOD budget to buy equipment and helicopters.
I have my own views on this, but I have to be careful in what I say.......
As a serving member of the Armed Forces, can you declare an 'opt out' for your family to stop them receiving a badly written/spelt scrawled note addressed to the wrong person from a barely competent idiot allegedly representing the government and people of this country in the eventuality that you are killed in an unlawful war against an unrecognisable enemy?ETA: just found out that Gordon Brown made time to write to Jon Terry after he missed his penalty in the Chapions League final two years ago and made time to visit Ozzy Osbourne when he fell off of his quad bike....this pretty much negates the effort he goes to when writing to berieved families.
I thought she had a valid point when she asked him why he could pump millions into saving the banks, but not into the MOD budget to buy equipment and helicopters.
I have my own views on this, but I have to be careful in what I say.......
Edited by Cara Van Man on Tuesday 10th November 09:44
I know I wouldn't want my family receiving such a letter. Send them something official yes, but not something scrawled out during the ad break before voting closes on the X factor.....
I reckon, sad though it is, the numbers involved & electorate apathy may continue to keep public opinion below the tipping point to bring to bear the sufficient numbers in anti war demo`s to effect any comprehensive pull-out anytime soon. Brown through Blair has married us to the US position & Obama`s strategy will largely dictate ours.
Using a Nato trained Afghan army, similar to the thinking seen in the Iraqi exit strategy, might be derailed by the relentless pushing to de-construct the Iranian nuclear programme.
If anti Iranian elements.. Israel, the US, Britain or a co-alition decide to act or strike in this region, the big picture.....logistics, supply lines, personnel, aircraft etc,.... may dicate a militery presence in the region until the affair is wrapped up (enrichment capability bombed back 10 years or worse..conflict.)
pakistan could I suppose also easily chalk up a decade of hide & seek with it`s radicalized enemy within to boot.
Cameron seems unlikely to intitiate any maverick exit under the wing of US global decision making.
Using a Nato trained Afghan army, similar to the thinking seen in the Iraqi exit strategy, might be derailed by the relentless pushing to de-construct the Iranian nuclear programme.
If anti Iranian elements.. Israel, the US, Britain or a co-alition decide to act or strike in this region, the big picture.....logistics, supply lines, personnel, aircraft etc,.... may dicate a militery presence in the region until the affair is wrapped up (enrichment capability bombed back 10 years or worse..conflict.)
pakistan could I suppose also easily chalk up a decade of hide & seek with it`s radicalized enemy within to boot.
Cameron seems unlikely to intitiate any maverick exit under the wing of US global decision making.
Edited by FM on Tuesday 10th November 11:37
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