tributehub

I would be intrigued to know why it is that the Princes William (nee Windsor) and Harry (allegedly nee Hewitt) are on yet another freebie sojourn at the expense of the British taxpayer.

Their appearance tonight at the World Cup game in South Africa is an affront to the dignity of all other serving members of HM Armed Forces throughout the the world.

These parasites of the British Monachy are held up to be 'regular guys' but the truth is that they are so far removed from that status as to be an insult to the troops on the ground. They are held up to be just like you and I but I don't know of any other member of HM armed forces who gets such free rein to take leave as and when they desire it.

Much is made of their charitable contribution to the needy people of Africa but the way I hear it is that a vast proportion of the money raised is 'lost' before it ever reaches those in need. In my opinion it is one big public relations con trick.

At a time when 299 British Forces personnel or MOD civilians have died whilst serving in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001, we need to focus our efforts in withdrawing our troops with no further delay. We have no hope of achieving any satisfactory goal in Afghanistan given that we are dealing with a corrupt government in Kabul. In my opinion the situation is now worse than ever before because we are under the command locally of the US, who are not, in my opinion, a reliable and stable allie.

And by the way, we should remind ourselves of what a bunch of shits our own politicians are when we recall that John Reid, who as Secretary of State for Defence in, I think it was about 2003, said that we should be able to 'deal with the situation in Afghanistan without even a bullet being fired'. This is the same man who didn't have the balls to stand for re-election in 2010 and who voted very strongly in favour of the Iraq war and who voted voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.

Whilst I'm about it, and in order to give a balanced view, I have to say how disappointed I was with David Cameron's visit to Afghanistan last week. The last thing that the troops in Afghanistan wanted was a visit from the PM. They wanted to grab a few few hours well earned sleep between treacherous sorties into danger. They didn't want to have have to go out and paint the sand brown, spruce the bogs up in case DC wanted to have a dump, prepare an artificial 'safe zone' for DC to sleep in overnight so he could be be shown to be a regular guy, in short it was a public relations exercise. Did you see any soldier on the news bulletin who was wearing anything other than a pristine, freshly ironed uniform? Can you imagine the aggravation of having to prepare for this visit given that they're in a war zone? And as for not going to the 'front' in Helmand province on the advice of his security advisers because of the the dangers, if he really wanted to be seen to share the risks of the men and women his government were putting into the firing line he should have told the advisers to do one and gone there. Why is it OK for him to not take the risk but it is OK to send others there? He would have got a load more respect from the public at large for doing so.

Well said, thanks Mike.

It is with a heavy heart that I read this morning of the death in hospital yesterday of a Royal Marine Commando. He died of the wounds he received from an explosion in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

His loss is no more or less tragic than all those who have fallen before him, but the toll has now reached 300.  >

This loss of life is very painful to me Mike, and I appreciate your post a great deal. Canada has lost 148 now in the conflict. Canadian troop withdrawal is supposed to be in 2011....but who knows.

My heart aches at the thought of it all. Will history show it was all futile....or will it show it as a pivotal point where the destiny of a country was changed for the better?

Frankly for me...it all appears to be futile.

Bob

Thanks for your contribution Bob. Unsurprisingly, I share your view regarding the futility of the situation.

I don't know if you've seen this site, or anything similar, but it graphically illustrates the consequences of this war for all the nations involved.

www.icasualties.org/oef/

A few weeks ago I visited, for the first time, the National Memorial Arboretum which is in Staffordshire. I don't know if you've heard of it in your neck of the woods, but it is a truly magnificent place and is the UK's centre of remembrance. It is 150 acres dedicated to the memory of men, women and children from many, many countries and organisations (not all military by any means). I was there all day and it was a very moving experience. Here's a link - you may care to have a read.

www.thenma.org.uk/index.aspx

In my opinion a visit to the NMA should be mandatory for all our politicians. Nowhere else that I know of better demonstrates the futility of war and it might concentrate their minds in the future before they embark on aggression.