I was jump-started from sleep into life this morning at 7.50 this morning by a John Humphrys interview. Are we sleepwalking into new disasters in Afghanistan? After retreating from the most dangerous Sangin area of Helmand, UK deaths this year are nearing the 108 killed last year.
Humphrys came close to asking the key question, are we sending soldiers to die in vain?
Respected military writer Max Hastings was being interviewed. He has written:
' I have always worried that the British army’s attitude to the conflict is distorted first by its admirable “can-do” spirit, which has prompted persistent unfounded optimism; and second, by a desperate desire to be seen to win a campaign, to escape a humiliating retreat to Britain.'
Liam Fox has repeatedly denied my charge that he is irrationally optimistic.
Max Hastings also wrote:
"Western commanders are today enthusiastic about progress in training Afghan soldiers and policemen. Yet almost all army recruits are drawn from the doesnorth of the country, and are seen as foreigners in the Pashtun south. Despite annual expenditures of $12.6bn on the security forces, desertions are still running at 18 per cent, which means recruiting an additional 25,000 men a year merely to maintain strength.
The struggle will go on, simply because a lot of people have vested interests in avoiding explicit recognition of failure."
That is precisely the situation. No politician believes victory is possible, but they cannot devise an exit that hides their compliance in a wanton loss of life. They clings to the myths of a happy outcome.
Christmas will see well-deserved tributes to our troops in Afghanistan. They is likely to be a ministerial visit or two. But there will be new thinking from politicians. Next year will be another sickening spell of futile slaughter.
Solution
An astonishing number of LibDems MPs have been caught in the vanity trap.
I asked Norman Baker at a Select Committee a month ago what vote was he most ashamed of. He replied 'None yet.' He gave a rather different answer to the giggling, smiling, bottom-wriggling gals from the Telegraph.
There is a simple solution to the embarassed LibDems. Just say in private exactly the same things that you say in public.
It's always worked for me.
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