(U.K.) The troops will leave, but should we cheer?

[unhappycamper]

The troops will leave, but should we cheer?
Sean Rayment, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 12/08/2007


In a few months' time, Gordon Brown will rise in the House of Commons and announce that the time has come for British troops to withdraw from Iraq. For the Prime Minister, the move will signify a final severing from the old Blair regime and, he hopes, allow Labour to benefit at the next election from a healthy feelgood factor.

To great fanfare Mr Brown will declare that the "dividend" from this act will allow Britain to increase its military commitment in Afghanistan in order to protect that country from ever again becoming a safe haven for terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.

Praise will rightly be heaped upon our armed forces for their efforts and sacrifices and Mr Brown's decision will be applauded across Britain by a grateful public, thankful that they have a prime minister willing to make bold decisions in the national interest. George Bush, under pressure from a Republican Party increasingly disillusioned by the war in Iraq, will surely follow suit shortly after.

Doubtless, in some quarters, the final withdrawal will lead to renewed claims - similar to those which appeared in the American press last week -that Britain has been defeated in southern Iraq. This is not the case. True, our armed forces have suffered many casualties but, from the five years I spent in the Parachute Regiment, two of them fighting terrorists in Northern Ireland, soldiers expect to sustain losses on operations and increasing casualty rates do not amount to mission failure.

Instead British troops are being bombed out of Iraq because the whole military strategy has been fatally undermined by flawed political decision-making based on incorrect military assumptions. Britain is effectively being forced to withdraw because it is locked into another conflict in Afghanistan, to which it has committed long-term military support. Our armed forces have neither the personnel nor equipment to fight two wars on two fronts.

Back in the late spring of 2005, when Iraq's future still appeared relatively optimistic, the Government, backed by the military, took the strategic decision to commit itself to the expansion of the International Security and Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Britain would send a force of somewhere between 3,000 and 7,000 troops to Helmand Province to provide the security which would allow reconstruction to begin.


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[kenny blankenship]

1. Nah, we didn't lose. Woulda won, too, if we'd scored more goals!

It's not nice to point out pathetic sniveling excuse makers when they're feeling down from having lost. But sometimes it's necessary.
YOU LOST, Neville! Get over it.

The British position in S. Iraq is untenable and you could be overrun there at any time. Get over it - and pack your things.