Mission Impossible

Yesterday a British soldier, understood to have been serving with the Special Forces, was killed in action in Afghanistan.

He was killed as a result of enemy fire whilst on operations east of Kabul.

The death takes the number of British Forces personnel who have lost their lives since the war began in October 2001 to 447.

Another family blown apart by grief and despair.  May their suffering ease with the passing of time.

Last week David Cameron said, during a visit to Camp Bastion, that Afghanistan was ‘mission accomplished’ and that British troops could return to the UK with their ‘heads held high’, although he’s aware they leave Afghanistan amidst reports that violence is on the increase and the security system is complicit in rampant corruption and abuse.

Our military’s presence in Afghanistan has been an abysmal failure. The minimal economic activity that does take place is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid which accounted for an astounding 97% of GDP in 2010.  The rest of the economy, mainly unofficial, depends on the spiralling opium poppy trade.

Our troops may return with their heads held high but they know their job was ‘mission impossible’. The loss of 447 of our military is 447 too many.

Tweet

Another Life Lost

Another British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan.

He was killed on Tuesday ‘as a result of an explosion during a vehicle-borne suicide attack’.

The soldier, from the 3rd Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was described as ‘a hugely experienced soldier who commanded great respect throughout his regiment.’

Each and every one of our armed forces deserves respect.  

446 of our service personnel have been killed in this unnecessary and unwinnable war.

RIP.

Tweet

Another Tragedy In Afghanistan

                   
                   

The video shows Brigadier General Günter Katz reporting the death of yet another British soldier in Afghanistan.  

The dead soldier was a member of 28 Engineering Regiment, attached to 21 Engineer Regiment (The Black Rats), and was part of a team preparing Nato bases for handover to Afghan forces.

Six British soldiers were also wounded in the attack, which began with an argument among Afghan troops.  Their injuries are not thought to be life threatening. 

Afghan officials said the man responsible was a soldier, nicknamed Shiekh, from the east country, who often led prayers.

The killing is the latest in a string of insider attacks that threatens to undermine the transition from international forces to local troops due to be completed by the end of 2014.

3.800 British troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan in December 2014, with the remaining 5,200 at the end of the following year.

The latest attack takes the number of UK service personnel who have lost their lives since this war began to 439.

The past year has seen a surge in so-called 'green on blue' attacks leading to the deaths of more than 60 international troops and raising questions about whether a strategy of training local forces to take on responsibility for security can be successful. These attacks will continue to escalate as troops withdraw from the country.  The taliban want to government their country and little will stop them.

Tweet

Bring Captain Wales Home

Yesterday the MoD announced the deaths of another three British soldiers in Afghanistan.

One soldier, from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed on Friday when the vehicle in which he was travelling struck an improvised explosive device in the Nahr-e Saraj of Helmand Province. The other two, from the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, were shot dead by a man wearing a local police uniform and were killed at a checkpoint in the south of Nahr-e Saraj yesterday.

The news of their deaths was overshadowed by reports that the Taliban claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack on the sprawling Camp Bastion in which two US Marines were killed and several other troops injured.  NATO also lost 5 aircraft in the attack.

A spokesman for the Taliban said: "We attacked that base because Prince Harry was also on it and so they can know our anger [regarding an anti-Islamic film]".

Bastion is situated in a remote desert area north west of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand.  It is the hub for all British operations in the province and along with Leatherneck houses thousands of combat troops and Marines, including Danish and Estonian forces.

I've long been against William or Harry serving on the front line because their presence puts the lives of others at high risk.  If Captain Wales wants to play with helicopters there are plenty stations where he could indulge his passion, but he should be brought out of Afghanistan now.  Some may say he wants to 'do his job' but his birthright doesn't permit him to be a normal member of HM Forces and his desire to be on the front line is selfish.  Now he should accept his decision is augmenting the dangers for his colleagues and others and he should return to the UK.

These three deaths bring the total of our troops who have been killed since this bloody war began to 430.

Tweet

Unsolvable Religious/Cultural Differences

Another three British soldiers have been killed by an Afghan policeman whilst they did their best to pass on their skills to the Afghan forces.

Two served with the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards and one with the Royal Corps of Signals. A fourth British soldier was injured in the shooting but was not seriously hurt.

Mark Cann, spokesman for the British Forces Foundation charity, said soldiers were worried about how Afghan colleagues, particularly police, were vetted.

"It makes everyone a little more cautious," he said.

The latest deaths mean a total of ISAF personnel have been killed so far this year and of these ( since 2010) 14 were British troops.

Any notion that Afghans, in general, think that NATO troops - particularly British and American - are there to help them is nonsense.  To them we are infidels and worse - infidel invaders.

Afghans live by their religious/cultural code and any non-believer is the enemy.

We shouldn't be providing training or assistance in these circumstances because it will not make an iota of difference to the average Afghan's life.  The majority will continue to live in poverty and under the control of the Taliban.

We will never learn.  All I can hope for is that when our military is reduced to a skeleton - after the current and forthcoming sackings - that they will never again be put in front line operations, because there won't be enough manpower to be effective.

Yesterday's deaths bring the total number of British fatalities in Afghanistan to 422.

Tweet

'Moral Duty' Is A Poor Excuse

Kabul

A British soldier from the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, has been killed in Afghanistan.

He was part of a patrol to disrupt insurgent activity in the south of Nahr-e-Saraj district in Helmand Province, when he was killed by small arms fire.

The soldier becomes the 417th member of our armed forces to have died since operations in Afghanistan began and his death comes just hours after another soldier from 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, was killed on Friday.  He was named yesterday as Corporal Michael John Thacker.

This weekend I watched Rory Stewart's programme Afghanistan - The Great Game, which was broadcast on BBC2 earlier last week. Both parts should be compulsory viewing for all politicians even though I tend to agree with this reviewer. Although Stewart has been criticised for admitting he spent only 32 days walking in Afghanistan, it's 32 days more than any other MP has undertaken.

Yesterday morning, on the BBC's The Big Questions programme, many of the audience were of the opinion that British Forces should intervene in the Syrian conflict as they believed we could save the lives of civilians and it was our moral duty to do so. Only the SNP's MSP Humza Yousaf appeared to have a grasp of the situation there and stated the conflict should be resolved by the Arab nations and not the West.

It is not our responsibility to inflict our culture and systems upon other nations using military force.  History proves that we have done far more harm than good using the excuse of 'moral duty'.

Tweet

Afghanistan Casualty

The Ministry of Defence announced the death of another member of our armed forces last night.

The soldier belonged to the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh and he died yesterday after coming under small arms fire inthe Nahr-e-Saraj area of Helmand province.

His death takes the number of British personnel killed in this unwinnable war to 416.

No further information will be provided until his family give permission.

Tweet

Should Our Military Have Their Own Hospitals?

Another British soldier, who was wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan last week, has died in hospital in Birmingham.

He belonged to 33 Engineer Regiment and was seriously injured by an IED on the 11 April.

His death comes less than two weeks after Corporal Jack Stanley from the Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish) died at Queen Elizabeth hospital of injuries he sustained in another attack.  A total of 409 members of UK forces have died in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.

Although the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine has won numerous awards for the work they are doing, 13 servicemen, injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, have launched compensation claims against it.  The group is claiming they received below-par treatment and in some cases were misdiagnosed.

Legal experts said there was a gap between the world-class care frontline soldiers receive on the battlefield and the aftercare they get.  There appears to be a weakness in the psychiatric care available, but that's not surprising because throughout the UK standards of psychiatric care vary widely and many people in need of help have to wait months for help.

A retired psychiatrist friend told me a few years ago that, although he had never treated a serving member of the military, if he had been required to do so he would have found it difficult because the trauma of serving on a front line is far more complex than most mental ailments. Mental illness is still a taboo in our society, even though one in four experience it at some time in their lives.

It's the UK government's shame that they refuse to provide a military hospital where medical services are provided under the same roof. Then psychiatrists and psychologists would be able to work closely and quickly to help those with problems. The excuse politicians make is that military-run hospitals can't match the specialist care provided by NHS hospitals, but that can easily be refuted by those who have experienced both systems in the past.

When the Duchess of York military hospital opened in Catterick in 1976, it was decided to make the services available to civilians as well as the military and their dependents.  It was a small hospital but quickly gained a reputation for excellence. Civilian patients were prepared to travel from all over North Yorkshire to receive treatment. Because of its size there were limits to what services were offered but the medical and nursing care was second to none.  Sadly that hospital no longer exists.

Perth Royal Infirmary is an NHS hospital. Compared with Ninewells Hospital in Dundee it is small and services have been gradually reduced over the years. Specialist care (in a few clinical areas) is available but mainly specialists visit from the larger teaching hospital twenty miles away. The lack of resident specialists does not diminish the quality of care available.

If I thought politicians would be more considered in their decisions to send our troops to war, I would not be suggesting the country should have at least one military hospital.  Few of today's politicians have the foresight to assess the hidden damage of recent wars.  Their grandchildren will see the results though.

source

Tweet

It's Too Easy To Forget

The Ministry of Defence's website states: 'Britain's own security is at risk if we again allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorists. It is therefore vital to the UK that Afghanistan become a stable and secure state that is able to suppress violent extremism within its borders'.

Afghanistan always will be a country with a medieval culture. It is corrupt and the eleven years of this war have done nothing to stem the corruption.  In fact it could be said that due to the gigantic sums of money the West has given to the country, the West has encouraged and extended the corruption culture.

As at 15 February, a total of 398 British forces personnel have died while serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001. Very seriously injured casualties number 275 and seriously injured or wounded 279. Field hospital admissions of those wounded in action number 1,874 and there were 5,487 aeromed evacuations carried out.

These statistics do not include the six soldiers now confirmed killed yesterday while travelling in a Warrior armoured flighting vehicle when it was caught in an explosion.

The soldiers only started their tour of duty a couple of weeks ago, having left the UK on Valentine's Day. Five were from the 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment and were conducting a routine unpartnered patrol in the desolate scrubland of border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces. Recovery has been hampered by terrible weather conditions.

This is the biggest loss of life in one incident since an RAF Nimrod crashed after a fire broke out on the plane moments after mid-air refuelling in 2006, when 14 service personnel died.

The death of these soldiers takes the fatality figures to 404 of our armed forces who have been killed in country which is resolutely determined to defend its culture. We should not be there and when- if ever - our troops are withdrawn, history will not record this war as anything other than a dreadful result of political warmongering. Few, if any, of our politicians will have given a second thought to the dead, their colleagues and families today.

I care and I'm sure many others do too. It's too easy to forget.

Tweet

Will Britain Become Involved In The Latest US Military Operation?

The political arena of Iowa has been uppermost in the western media this week while a more important development has been taking place.

Under the label of the 'Austere Challenge 12' the US Army is looking to increase co-operation with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and will hold one of the largest joint exercises in the two nations' history in 2012. This drill has happened annually recently but in 2012 it is far bigger than previous exercises.

In an interview with CNN last week, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs General Martin Dempsey, said, "Preparations for a military option against Iran are evolving to a point that they would be executable if necessary."

The two armies will hold a massive ground forces exercise - Austere Challenge 12 - in Spring this year and the drill is unprecedented in its size.

It will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany - with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces for the event of a future large-scale conflict in the Middle East.

RT reports that America previously equipped Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates with enough arms to wreck any chance of an Iranian nuclear weapon programme from nearby, but now the US have added forces on-the-ready in Israel and Germany.  The US is equipping Saudi Arabia with nearly £30 billion F-15 war places, a deal that comes shortly after Washington worked out a contract with Dubai to give the UAE advanced 'bunker buster' bombs that could decimate underground nuclear operations in neighbouring Iran.

Iran's threat to close down the Strait of Hormux, a vital path for the nation's oil trade, resulted in the US dispatching 15,000 marines to the area.

This action may be taking place in distant lands but I have to ask the question -will the UK become involved?  Sadly it will - if Obama clicks his fingers.

Tweet

Is It Time We Had A Public Debate About Pulling Our Troops Out Of Afghanistan?

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion, while on foot patrol, in the Afghanistan war.

He belonged to the 5th Battalion The Rifles and was killed in the Babaji area of the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province after a makeshift bomb (IED) went off.  His family have been told the hellish news according to the Ministry of Defence.

His death takes the number of British troops who have died since the war began in 2001 to 390.

Australians are debating whether their troops should be pulled out of Afghanistan. So far 33 Australian soldiers have died and many recognise the original reason for deployment - the capture of Osama bin Laden - has been achieved.  Comment from Phil Sparrow, an aid worker who has been in Afghanistan since 1999 with his family, is particularly insightful.

Isn't it time the UK had such a public debate?

Tweet

Another Young Life Lost

Twenty year old Scott McLaren would never have thought the above photograph would ever be used. No military person gives the compulsory photo, requested by the MoD when combat deployment orders are issued, more than a fleeting consideration.  They don't dwell on their chances of being killed; if they did we wouldn't have voluntary armed services.

This young man was from Sighthill, Edinburgh and deployed to Afghanistan in April this year as a rifleman in D Company 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Something went tragically wrong on Monday when Scott was discovered missing. I've no intention of speculating on the circumstances except to record he was found dead after a full search by the military. His family have suffered a great loss and the his squadron too.

Another life lost in this war which has now claimed 375 of our military. Surely now our politicians realise we can't instill a western-styled government into these lands. It's been evident for years the majority of Afghanis want to run their country by their own methods.  Yet we continue to pour more and more millions into Afghanistan's corrupt government's greasy hands.

David Cameron announced today a further withdrawal of 500 troops by the end of this year. Add the 400 withdrawn earlier this year and when 2012 arrives less than 10% of our troops will have been brought home. He promises all shall be home by 2015.

Meanwhile the killing will continue on both sides and more body bags will arrive at Brize Norton.  It's all very well offering children bursaries if a parent is killed on active service but wouldn't it be more acceptable if they had lost their lives protecting these islands instead of fighting for a share of Afghanistan's gas and mineral wealth.

Tweet

A Lone Marathon Runner

In a few hours hundreds of trainer clad people will set off round the streets of London in the annual marathon.  Each will have their reason to complete the 26.2miles and I wish them all the best.

However, I would like to wish an extraordinarily brave man all the best too.  He is Major Al Jarvis, who will be attempting to run in full body armour weighing 13kg, around the main operating base in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, which is home to Task Force Helmand HQ, His marathon won't be as scenic as the London streets as it's approximately 26 laps of the operating base.

Major Jarvis broke his back, left hip and right ankle in a parachute training exercise three years ago.  You can read his story here.

Tweet

Lisboa

As thousands of protestors marched through London against the war in Afghanistan  the great, the good and the incompetent strutted their stuff in Lisbon.

I wondered why Dmitry Medvedev, representing Moscow, chose to become involved.  Most probably it's because Russia is concerned about the Afghan opium trade and without the assistance of NATO Russian efforts to curb the corruption would not succeed.  Moscow is looking long-term  at the problem because it knows how damaging the poppy fields are to its economy and it needs the assistance of the west.  In return Moscow was invited to participate in a US-led missile defence programme intended to intercept long-range attacks launched from Iran.  This agreement also has implications for the Afghan conflict, because Russia will allow greater use of its territory for transporting NATO supplies to Afghanistan as well as help fund more transport helicopters.

Our Prime Minister, like many of our modern politicians, is looking no further than the next election. By announcing that the transition deal would 'pave the way for British combat troops to be out of Afghanistan by 2015', he considers he is sticking to a pledge to take British forces off the frontline before the election. Is his insistence upon setting a date sensible?  Do you tell the local burglars when you're going on holiday?  Much as I would like to see our armed forces out of this war, this is a move which could put the lives of our soldiers at risk because all this does is tell the Taliban exactly how long they have to hang on and gives them a psychological boost.

By contrast US officials insist that the NATO transition plan did not guarantee an end to American combat operations.  US forces could go on fighting the Taliban even after transition.  Barack Obama said he is pretty confident that US troops will still be maintaining a counter-terrorism capability after 2015.

David Cameron's firm stance has jarred with NATO's conditional plan as NATO's secretary-general insisted: "This process must be conditions-based and not calendar driven."

So who came out of this summit smiling?  Russia it would seem and of course Karzai, as he must be delighted to hear Britain will continue to pour billions of aid into his country long after our soldiers have left.

source

Tweet

'The West Can't Defeat al-Qaeda and Militant Islam'

I haven't forgotten to pay tribute to Ranger Aaron McCormick, 22, from Macosquin, Co Londonderry and of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment, who was killed on Sunday in the Nad-e Ali area of Helmand province, Afghanistan.  The lives of his parents, two sisters and his brother will never be the same again.

In June this year David Cameron said:

'We can't be there for another five years, having been there for nine years already.'

Of course Mr Cameron doesn't want our military in Afghanistan in five years' time. War affects votes. The public are becoming very aware that the reasons given for our presence there are flimsy at best, while the new head of our armed forces, Gen Sir David Richards, warned that the West can't defeat al-Qaeda and militant Islam.  He argues that it could be 'contained' to allow Britons to lead secure lives while, in the same interview, he says the threat posed by 'al-Qaeda and its affiliates' meant Britain's national security would be at risk for at least 30 years. Furthermore he said:

 the British military and the Government had been "guilty of not fully understanding what was at stake" in Afghanistan and admitted that the Afghan people were beginning to "tire" of Nato's inability to deliver on its promises.

Then continued:

"In conventional war, defeat and victory is very clear cut and is symbolised by troops marching into another nation's capital. First of all you have to ask: do we need to defeat it [Islamist militancy] in the sense of a clear cut victory? I would argue that it is unnecessary and would never be achieved.

"But can we contain it to the point that our lives and our children's lives are led securely? I think we can."

I suspect we're being told that the Afghan war is unwinnable and there will be no victors.  Are the politicians and military top brass at last beginning to recognise what many of us have known for some years or have they known this is a futile war but refused to acknowledge it because of our politicians' obsession with America?  Or did the General know this MoD document was about to be leaked and spoke out because he believes the armed forces are demoralised?

No amount of political talk will bring comfort to the friends and family of Aaron McCormick, whose death brings the total number of those killed in this war to 344.  We must not forget the hundreds of injured who are so seldom mentioned.

source

Tweet

Afghanistan

Two British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan as the country's election took place yesterday. The Ministry of Defence deny the deaths were related to Afghanistan's parliamentary elections which have been marred by the deaths of 11 civilians and three police officers and suspected wide-scale fraud.

One soldier was from the Queen's Royal Lancers and the other from the Royal engineers. They were attached to the lst Battalion Scots Guards Battlegroup. They were blown up while on vehicle patrol west of Lashkar Gah.

The number of British losses since the conflict in Afghanistan began now stands at 337.

Tweet

A Very British Hero

Staff Sargeant Oz Schmid was killed in Afghanistan last year. He was a member of the army's elite bomb disposal unit and died while attempting to defuse a bomb.

His wife Christina has been looking into her late husband's final days and the pressures faced by his unit. Panorama are to broadcast her account of 'A Very British Hero' tonight on BBC One, at 20.30pm.

The MoD has reported that the army's top bomb disposal officer has resigned. Col Bob Seddon, of the Royal Logistics Corps, quite over fears bomb disposal training could be compromised. Col Sneddon would not have made his decision lightly. He would have tried every avenue available to him to voice his concerns. Yet he must have felt they were disregarded. The army has begun to offer £50,000 payments to top bomb disposal soldiers willing to sign on for another tour of duty in Afghanistan as a bid to ease the pressure on the units already deployed. That shows how right Col Sneddon is in his fears.

The pressures on these people is enormous yet they receive little or no recognition. Mrs Schmid's recall of her husband saying he didn't wear all his protective clothing when working 'because it was unbearably hot given the high temperature' touched me deeply.

Anyone who is interested in the security of this country should watch this programme tonight. In fact it should be compulsory viewing. For those who defend the fact our troops are in Afghanistan, does it never occur to them why media interviewers are still asking politicans why we are there? The reason is because politicians don't want to tell us the truth. We're not there for the security of these islands, but we're there because the US wanted this war and, with the UK being their bestest allies, we toddled along too. We've had 286 funerals to prove it.

We shouldn't be bribing troops who haven't had enough time to recover from grueling tours. We should be withdrawing all troops, regrouping and retraining. Labour, with the help of politicians from other parties, put our troops into this war and have done nothing to ensure adequate staffing levels in this area. Col Sneddon's unit would have told those in authority years ago that they were understaffed. We've been in Afghanistan since 2001. It takes 6 years to train a bomb disposal expert. Terrorists have been using IEDs for years so politicians must have been aware they would play a major part in this war.

The blame lies firmly at the door of the last government. The new government would do well to take note that withdrawing our troops as quickly as possible is the only acceptable outcome for the UK. Spending billions building schools and propping up a corrupt government, which will immediately revert to its own habits once we do withdraw, is no longer an option.

Do watch the programme if you can or record it for later.

Tweet

Afghanistan

I must apologise for not recording the death of another soldier in Afghanistan on Sunday.

He has been named as Rifleman Mark Turner from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles who was killed as a result of an explosion that happened while he was on a foot patrol against insurgents near Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge, in the Kajaki areas of Helmand Province.

Mark was 22 and grew up in Gateshead. He worked as a panel beater before joining the army in 2006. He was a trained Assault Pioneer and Team Medic and had been on several overseas exercises including Kenya and Belize. He had already been on one previous tour of duty in Afghanistan from September 2006 to April 2007 during which time he was injured in a road traffic accident. He was killed by an IED.

His death bring the number of troops who have lost their lives in Afghanstan to 280.

His family made the following statement:

"Mark was a proper Mammy's boy described by his loving family as being ‘daft as a brush'. He was a fanatical supporter of Newcastle United who looked forward to their imminent return to the Premier League, boasting about the fact that he had managed to watch the recent match against Nottingham Forest whilst out in Afghanistan.

"Mark loved to play poker and he also enjoyed listening to all types of music, having a distinct like of Dean Martin songs. He loved his food and regularly took up his passion of devouring cheese pizzas; however in food terms, nothing could surpass his desire of yellow Telly Tubby biscuits, sent out to him by his family.

"His fiancée said that he always insisted on perfection and referred to their affection when Mark said they were both like ‘peas and carrots'. Mark will be dearly missed by his mother Anne, fiancée Liesha, stepfather Joe, brother David and three sisters Lisa, Joanne and Julie."

Tweet

Afghanistan

Yet another soldier has been killed in Afghanistan.

He served with the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards and was killed today. His death was the result of an explosion that happened in the Babaji District of central Helmand province.

He was on a routine foot patrol when he was caught by an explosion. The patrol was operating near the newly built Patrol Base Walizi, part of the ongoing operations by the Coldstream Guards Battle Group in that area.

The death toll now stands at 279 and another family grieves.

Con Coughlin's latest article 'Why is Gordon Brown keeping so quiet about our victory in Afghanistan' is an interesting read.

Tweet

Afghanistan

Two more British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.

They belonged to the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, part of the Household Cavalry Regiment Battle Group and were killed yesterday, Tuesday 16 March.

The soldiers were killed as a result of an explosion which occurred in an area approximately 20km north of Musa Qal'ah district dcentre, Helmand province, yesterday afternoon.

Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield said :

"It is with deep sadness I must inform you that a single IED explosion yesterday afternoon killed two British soldiers, both from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, serving as part of the Household Cavalry Regiment Battle Group."

More deaths from IEDs and may have been caused by a lack of equipment. We have now lost 275 of our military in this war.

My sympathy to the family and friends of the fallen.

Tweet