The New Govt & Our Armed Forces

It's hard to be completely objective about the outcome of Cameron's visit to the troops in Afghanistan but I get the impression he was more welcomed than Brown ever was.  Like the rest of us, the Forces are listening to the words and waiting to see the follow-through action but there is a sense of optimism that, this time, it might be different.

Blair and Brown blithely sent the country to war with no thought for manpower, funding or equipment and then when problems arose, they lied and covered-up, thinking of their own political reputations and their 'legacies' rather than the welfare of our troops.  Even the ineffectual Bollox Bob Ainsworth has decided the coast is clear enough for him to come out and criticise past defence policies.

I doubt Cameron & Co will go down the same route and so far he's made some encouraging noises.

"That is why we came here. That is why we cleared away those training  camps. If we left tomorrow, those training camps could come back  tomorrow, because today the Afghans aren't yet ready to look after their  own security. As soon as they are ready – and you are helping to train  them to be ready – then we can leave and go home."

Something else would help too and that's the Afghanis themselves.  If, instead of leaving their country and letting someone else fight their wars, they stayed & played a more positive role in cleaning up their politics, getting rid of the warlord mentality and building the foundations of a modern state, we'd all be out of there a lot quicker.  It's time to sort out the bumper poppy harvests too and stop the drugs trafficking.  If GMO crops are such a wonderful blessing for mankind then let Monsanto plant up Afghanistan with them, for free, as a humanitarian gesture to replace the poppy fields and give the farmers a living wage.

There still seems to be confusion over a British role in clearing Taliban-infested Kandahar.  Depending which paper you read and which day of the week it is, we're either going or we're not.  The latest is we're not but we might be.  The Sec of State for Defence, Liam Fox, says we're not but US Gen Stanley McChrystal is hinting we might.   He's also laying the ground for a longer stay in Afghanistan than any British politician wants.

Speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels, he said: "I do think that it  will happen more slowly than we had originally intended.  It's  more important we get it right than we get it fast."
He said he  would know by the end of the year "whether it's progressing", but added:  "I don't know whether we'll know whether it is decisive."

One thing Cameron should do asap is speak to Obama - not about his unhelpful BP rhetoric - but about this:  US calls again for UK/Argentina talks.  The sovereignty of the Falklands is non-negotiable and it's about time Obama showed the quality of statesmanship we expect from the USA.   Cameron really should have nipped this one in the bud by now.


Cross-posted

The New Govt & Our Armed Forces

Liars & Lobbyists

Following on from the Dispatches programme yesterday evening and the news that Hoon, Hewitt and Byers have been suspended by the Labour Party (Moran was suspended some time ago), here are a few more notes:

Sir John Butterfill, Con, MP for Bournemouth & Chairman of MPs' Pensions Scheme.  Has repaid £17,000 of expenses claimed for his servants' quarters.  Will receive a golden parachute of almost £39k when he stands down at the GE plus his MP's pension.  "I could organise a meeting with a Minister in his office or possibly, if the Minister were interested in getting more briefing, they might come to you...  Can I tell you something very much in confidence?  Well it is quite likely that I will go to the Lords...nothing is certain in this world but ...  that would be nice and it also gives me another string to my bow as far as you're concerned.  Because quite often the right mover and shaker happens to be in the Lords... ..." 6 meetings a year - £30,000+ pa.

Baroness Sally Morgan, Blair Babe, outside earnings of £135k pa  including work for Lloyds Pharmacies.  "As a Peer you've got to be careful that you are not lobbying so there's a kind of,  there's Codes that you have to... ... I can have conversations with people without pushing my client necessarily but I can push a direction of travel on policy... My view is that I'll do anything so long as I'm transparent, reasonably transparent about it..."  Diabetes connection, NHS primary care trusts.

Margaret Moran, Lab, Luton.  Claimed £22k for dry rot repairs on a 2nd home more than 100 miles from her constituency - has repaid £6k.  Golden parachute of almost £55k, plus pension.  "I'm reasonably flexible really I mean particularly if it's something that's sort of you can tell that certain things I go woomph." [sic]  Claimed to have contact with SpAds & Select Committees.  Said she was free to 'work now'.  Has not voted in Parliament since May and not seen her Luton constituents because of "ill health".  Half an hour after the London meeting the investigative reporter telephoned her constituency office and was told she was still too ill to see anyone.

Stephen Byers, former Transport Secretary, former Business Secretary.  "Keep it confidential".  Consolidated Contractors International; National Express; Tesco; Rio Tinto.  Would want between £3k & £5k a day plus expenses.  Blairite.  Says he sees TB 'about once a month' and offered access.  "Depending on how quickly you can get things moving, there's a very good opportunity actually, which is that when the election is called, and this is very soon, we all run off and start campaigning, if we're trying to get re-elected.  The civil servants then spend that month working through all the sort of policy options and it's a great time, if there's an issue where your clients actually want to, to get a regulation changed or some law amended, that's the time to get in to see the civil servants.  Because there's no Ministers around, they've got more time and no one really thinks about that and it's a missed opportunity and I, you know, if I, well I'm giving you this advice now but, is to get in and see them.."  Also said he helped National Express get out of the East Coast Mainline franchise and avoid paying a penalty of £500million to the public purse and boasted of changing labelling legislation to favour Tesco, in concert with Lords Mandelson and Adonis.

Patricia Hewitt, another Blairite, former Health Sec.  Outside earnings of £180k pa from BT, Boots, Barclays and Cinven, the company which owns BUPA (which alone pays her £60k pa for 18 days' work), plus ministerial pension and golden parachute of almost £55k.  "I'm interested in taking on another major Board position ... 2/3 days a month"  Spoke of "subtleties" in working the system (ie loopholes), think tanks and seminars.  Outlined ways to gain access to ministers "without getting trapped by the officials".  Boasted of influencing the Bradley Report on behalf of private healthcare providers.

Geoff Hoon, Blairite, resigned last year, former Defence Secretary.  Claimed expenses for constituency home while renting out his London home and living in a Grace & Favour flat in Whitehall.  Golden parachute of almost £65k plus ministerial pension.  Now reviews NATO strategy (unpaid).  Has added another word to our dictionary: Hoon-Work, which means tracking down lucrative positions in Defence Finance industries.  "I went to see a private equity fund this morning...one of the things they do want me to do is come back and maybe talk in strategic terms about the relationship, if you like between NATO at the higher level and national defence policy, which is the strategic defence review, one down, and how it all fits together so I would be quite happy to do that for your clients.  In a sense I'm devising, I'm developing this policy so [your clients] would get a fairly accurate account of what's going on.  There will be opportunities for American companies in particular to look around at some vulnerable European companies because those companies will become vulnerable as their own governments cut back on defence spending.  I foresee, it's one reason why I'm talking to American private equity firms, I foresee a period where we may well see American companies in effect buying market share in Europe because they will buy up the national champions who are not getting the support they need to continue...  After April, I'm yours."  Daily rate = £3k.

Gordon Brown's spokesman said the PM was "satisfied" that there had been no impropriety on the part of ministers in the Transport and Business departments. "The Prime Minister has seen the statements from the departments and is satisfied that there is no impropriety."   Expect further 'clarification' soon.  Brown may have initially preened himself at the downfall of the Blairite Byers, Hewitt and Hoon but they were Labour Ministers and he is tainted by this, as are Adonis and Mandelson.

Many adjectives could be used to describe this small sample of MPs, Lords and Ladies but this morning further news emerges of yet more MPs breaking Parliamentary rules. Andrew Dismore (Lab, Hendon) has broken the rules more than 90 times, according to the report.

While our Parliamentary representatives squeal all the way home a group of MPs warned that the Ministry of Defence faces a funding black hole of up to £80 billion over the next decade because of poor budgeting and it has emerged that up to 500 soldiers would lose their jobs under a plan to modernise the Army.

With this venal government in charge of defence equipment procurement, any who lose their jobs are the 'lucky' ones.

Liars & Lobbyists

Commitment?

This squalid government, made up of lying, thieving, cockwaffling Fabian scum, continues to sink lower.  Not one word they utter is true.  They smile while lying; it's their own form of Taqqiyah. With the help of a weak Opposition and the LibDems they have destroyed this country's institutions and called it 'progress'.   The country has been changed  beyond recognition in the name of 'modernisation'.  Yes, they have a 'commitment', but it isn't to this country or our country's Armed Forces.  Suddenly, being voted out of office (or as they like to call it, power) at the GE, is too good for them - it's too fair, too 'British'.

Major NATO training exercises cancelled.

In what must rank as one of the most fatuous responses ever, Bill Rammell, AF Minister, said:  “Given our current commitments we must ensure that  activity is focused on preparing our Forces for the challenges they will  face. Any suggestion that Service personnel are not ready to respond to the  unexpected is nonsense, as was seen in the fast and effective response to  the flooding in the North of England last month.” 

It's tough when people are concerned with hanging on to jobs and homes (more businesses have gone to the wall in this recession than did in the 90s) but more of us need to spare a moment to see the bigger picture and the destination.  EuroGendFor is looming.  Does anyone remember the saying:  You can't see the wood for the trees?
Cross-posted

Commitment?

By Their Words Shall Ye Know Them

The idea of the Government handing out bonuses to public sector workers at a time when private sector workers are facing wage freezes, bonus cuts, shorter working hours etc is bad enough, but for the Government to be handing out bonuses to MOD staff at a time when many brave and selfless British troops are fighting and dying to prop up a corrupt regime in a foreign land we have no business being in is nothing less odious.

For Alan Johnson to come out and say that the pen-pushers in Whitehall deserve these bonuses because they're 'on the front line' is an incredible statement that shows where this Government's priorities lie. For the briefest of nano-seconds I actually felt some pity for Gordon Brown after the Sun's attack on him, but that's gone now.

For God's sake, what on Earth has happened to this country that this Labour government places more worth on civil servants than it does on the soldiers who it sends to war? Only yesterday Peter Mandelson tried to defend Gordon Brown against the Sun's attack by saying the newspaper was portraying the Government as the enemy, not the Taliban. Well this hideous distortion puts Mandelson's weasel-words fairly and squarely into perspective.

We don't need change in this country, we need a f***ing revolution!

By Their Words Shall Ye Know Them

From Sangin To South Yorkshire

An organic farm just outside Sheffield is opening its doors, workshops and acres to troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who need space to come to terms with life in civvy street.

The project, Rural Life Skills, has been endorsed by the Royal British Legion.  Paul Mulingani, RBL County manager: "It's a wonderful concept.  If I was coming out of combat I would rather be on a farm doing what's on offer there, than being in a city. Invariably in the towns, in the city, you'll go to the pubs and become liable to whatever's going on."

"A farm can give them some breathing space, it gives them support," says the project's organiser, Elizabeth Hill. "If they're here they get 24-hour support, it means they're not alone, they're also with other people who have been through similar situations. They're out in the countryside. If they want to go out into the middle of a field and scream they can, and nobody will lock them up or think they're mad."

As well as strenuous general farm work there are workshops in carpentry, blacksmithing, dry stone walling and agricultural engineering and so on.  In addition, professional counselling and, eg, cognitive behaviour therapy will be on offer.

The Hills already run the Game Lea Countryside Training Trust, a charity working with adults who have mental health problems and with teenage children facing exclusion from school.

I think this is a really great idea and I wish it every success in helping our troops.  The full article is here and here's a website with info on Gamelea & the Hill Family.  Any interested veterans can contact Elizabeth Hill 01246 568 206.

From Sangin To South Yorkshire

Richards Sets The Tone

I don't think General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of General Staff on 28th August, has made a promising start:

“I believe that the UK will be committed to Afghanistan in some manner — development, governance, security sector reform — for the next 30 to 40 years. “We need now to focus on the expansion of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Just as in Iraq, it is our route out militarily, but the Afghan people and our opponents need to know that this does not mean our abandoning the region. We made this mistake once. Our opponents are banking on us doing it again, and we must prove them wrong,”

"Of the Taleban, he said: “We can and are outfighting them.”

Maybe I'm being a little unfair but in this self-penned article, it sounds like he's gone native. What's more, a thirty or forty-year commitment, whether in troops, money or expertise, isn't one the British people want but I bet the oil pipeline & mineral exploration companies do.

Click to enlarge

UPDATE: With thanks to one of Sub Rosa's commenters for pointing up this article which shows the American administration are trying to learn from parallels with Vietnam, in particular bogus elections and the standing of President Karzai.

Richards Sets The Tone

Rogue Gunner Says It All

Cato is right. It's a shameful disgrace.

If you haven't already visited Rogue Gunner's blog, here's the link to the blog and the full article:

"On a day when the bodies of four UK servicemen are flown back home after making the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan the MOD are in the Court of Appeal. Why may you ask are they costing the British tax payer tens of thousands in legal bills? To make the lives of our young injured servicemen some who have horrific injuries better? No, they are once again making our Heroes fight another battle for adequate compensation that must last them for the rest of their lives.
...
Sometimes your longest War begins when you hand your uniform in and rejoin civvie street."

That's from a man who's been in the thick of war and knows what it's like. He also knows what it's like to be on civvie street with PTSD and no support. We ask so much of our Armed Forces; is it too much for us to demand our government treats them better? So many charities are springing up in an effort to fill the void left by government. Here's a link to Help for Heroes.

Rogue Gunner Says It All

Where To Start?

Late to bed and late to rise makes a blogger dull-witted not wise. In fact I was thinking about declaring myself a Jedi and taking the day off to celebrate R2D2's birthday (it's my yuman right innit?)

However, we have the all-too-believable story in the press this morning about the plan to smear Gen Sir Richard Dannatt once he leaves post in August. Here's the article. His 'shopping list' is unlikely to endear him further to Brown and the MoD. One minister said: “Once he’s gone, we can have a go at him. He can write his book and talk all he wants, but he’ll be fair game then.”

The reason this is so readily believable is because smearing is the proven tactic of the Labour Party: smear, lies, deflection and spin is all they know and that's why they're such a bunch of no-hopers and losers. The only way they could win an election is by increasing the postal vote in some northern cities; lowering the voting age to 16; allowing online voting or text voting (perhaps they can bring Ant & Dec or Richard & Judy in as consultants and ennoble them for their work?)

While the government attempts to deflect criticism of its lacklustre Defence funding & policies another British soldier has died this morning. As yet unnamed but from 2nd Btn The Rifles, he was on foot patrol near Gereshk.

Parliament prorogues next Tuesday, 21st and won't sit again until October 12th - that's about ten/eleven weeks - which means that MPs this year will have only sat for 128 days. Thanks to the govt's way of doing business, many debates have been guillotined and rushed; some nodded through without adequate scrutiny. The Parliamentary Standards Bill currently being rushed through before next Tuesday on Brown's orders is a good example. Already the govt has had to back-track and water down some aspects of the Bill, the consequence will be ill-thought out legislation and a piecemeal attack on the Constitution (whether written or not, it's still our Constitution). And, of course, those MPs who have already announced their resignations and those expecting be be kicked out at the GE can hardly be expected to give the Bill their full attention. Perhaps they're the ones being reported as 'surly' and 'resentful'?

Oh, well, that's enough for the moment from a bear of very little brain - though more accurately, I feel like this:


By the way, there's a radio discussion at the moment considering the difference between the mourning at Lt Col Thorneloe's funeral yesterday and the grief displayed at Wootton Bassett. What no-one has yet mentioned is that (a) these two events were not comparable: one was military and one was public, and (b) the 'keening and wailing' I saw came from youngsters still in school uniform who obviously had close ties to at least one of the 18yr-olds killed. I don't think it's a good move to criticise the ways grief shows itself.

Where To Start?

Asinine Alibi Brown

Lots of coffee-table books, once the revolution is over, to David Forward

Asinine Alibi Brown

Combating Extremism At Home

Where does this belief that being tough on Muslim extremists foments further extremism come from? It's like saying to a career-burglar, okay, we'll go easy on you; here's a shedload of money for you so don't do it again. The burglar will simply go and buy a better jemmy or lock-picker.

Close down the mosques that preach hatred and radicalisation. Hunt the b*ggers down and if they're UK nationals, lock them up - for a long time. Stop throwing money at these organisations and pleading with them not to hurt us. Treason is treason and we're close to a state of unacknowledged civil war. Get Tough!

It doesn't wash to say that we're in Afghanistan to prevent terrorism in the UK; we must begin here, at home. This spineless government has more blood on its hands than we'll ever know and it's far too profligate with the lives of others.

Combating Extremism At Home