WTF has happened to our military might?

[wendigo100]

Our military might has become our military might not!

[mcquiggd]

I think it's unfair to say that the military are no longer the force they once were..

We are no longer the country we once were... and their predicament, as that is what is, rather than a failure, is that they are subject to the same corrosive influences including incompetence, corruption, and amorality in government.

Destruction of the regimental system (wilful destruction of a sense of identity), failure to provide adequate equipment, lack of foresight, and concentration on the short term for political gain. The same attitude that has led to the current situation within the military is the same attitude that is affecting the rest of the country...

I think it's summed up by the following quote...

"
In the meantime Afghanistan is becoming increasingly like Iraq: “The day Corporal Bryan Budd’s death in Sangin was reported last month, it was on page 10, while Pete Doherty’s mother was on the front,” complained one of his commanding officers. “How do you think that makes soldiers feel?”
"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...0363_2,00.html

[bogeyman]

I think it's summed up by the following quote...

"
In the meantime Afghanistan is becoming increasingly like Iraq: “The day Corporal Bryan Budd’s death in Sangin was reported last month, it was on page 10, while Pete Doherty’s mother was on the front,” complained one of his commanding officers. “How do you think that makes soldiers feel?”
"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...0363_2,00.html

We're suckered and stupified.

In thrawl to TV reality Bread and Circuses.

What the hell is it going to take to rouse the people of this country to fight back?

[_V_]

A new series of Big Brother and Family Fortunes.

[bogeyman]

A new series of Big Brother and Family Fortunes.

Yes, I fear the brain of the 'man' (or individual of either or neither gender, or race, or creed, or celebratory culture) on the Clapham(istan) Omnibus (or other sustainable, non-poluting means of transport - including donkeys and oxen), has been rotted to the very core

[mcquiggd]

Eat them.

Eat them. Now.

[sunnysan]

Maybe

The next "Im a celebrity get me out of here" can be hosted in Helmand Province.

We can give the celebrities combat fatigues and rifles and make them walk from one side of the province to the other chanting anti Taliban slogans

We will probably need to start off with about 1000 Blist celebrities definitely including Paul Burrell, Paul Danan and that little brat from HollyOaks.

I am sure it would bolster troop numbers and I am sure a few Taliban will die laughing

[zathras]

Tony Blair fought 5 wars in the first 6 years in power. He has been one of the most warlike PM's this country has had in the post war years at least

Put simply our armies are overstretched, underfunded (for what they are being asked to do), and further underresourced.

Further as the political imperative overrides the military one the army is being asked to do things that impede the military goals in favour of political ones; which might give Blair good headlines, but does little or nothing to achieve the military ones.

If that was not enough, before one war has finished, the next one starts. So the army move on to the new theatre. Then they have to go back to the old one to clean up the mess their.

[Ardesco]

there

[AlfredJPruffock]

Tony Blair fought 5 wars in the first 6 years in power. He has been one of the most warlike PM's this country has had in the post war years at least

Put simply our armies are overstretched, underfunded (for what they are being asked to do), and further underresourced.

Further as the political imperative overrides the military one the army is being asked to do things that impede the military goals in favour of political ones; which might give Blair good headlines, but does little or nothing to achieve the military ones.

If that was not enough, before one war has finished, the next one starts. So the army move on to the new theatre. Then they have to go back to the old one to clean up the mess their.

Excellent analysis.

I would also add to these comments that Blairs commitment to the Iraq War was founded on the understanding that the trade off for the UKs participation would be a commitment from the NeoCons that there would be a Middle East Peace Settlement.

Unfortunately Blair was betrayed by the US Neocons, and his Leadership and crediblity has been on a spectacular wane ever since.

So much so that David Cameron recently commented that altough the UK had a special relationship with the US, it did not extend to following the US foreign policy in a slave like unquestioning manner.

A moot point as Harold Wilson bravely kept the UK out of the Vietnam bloodbath, a move which ultimately undermined his tenure as Prime Minister but Wilson sensed it was a flawed campaign and thus spared many British millitary lives in a futile War.

The Conservatives rightly sense that Blairs foreign policy failures are becoming an electoral liablity.