Put a stop to blood-letting (Afghanistan)

Put a stop to blood-letting

Sunday 12 July 2009

We make no apologies for returning to the subject of Afghanistan for two days in quick succession in this column.

For, hard on the heels of Saturday's editorial came one of the most ludicrous statements ever made by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, closely followed by yet more drivel from Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth.

This was supplemented by a contribution from US President Barack Obama which purported to be an expression of sympathy to the families of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan but was clearly an attempt to back up his faithful British lapdog Brown.

A total of 184 British servicemen and women have now been killed in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 - surpassing the death toll of 179 in Iraq.

And for what? Messrs Brown, Ainsworth and Obama assure us that it is to prevent al-Qaida attacks in London, New York and points west.

But quite how this is to be done is always conveniently glossed over, and to claim a developing success on the back of the bloodiest week of the entire campaign is as cynical as it is unworthy.

The identification of the Taliban with al-Qaida exists only in the imagination of Western politicians.

For, if al-Qaida is anything at all, it is an organisation that exists across borders with no direct national links to any one country.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/comment/put_a_stop_to_blood_letting

and poppy fields to harvest, we both, unfortunately, will be there.