British Military Current Events

[daftandbarmy]

England expects every man to do his duty,unless of course you
feel it would somehow infringe on your human rights.
WTF
                            Regards

My former CO.... sic 'em P.O.D.!



General Sir Mike Jackson calls for battlefield human rights ruling appeal
The former head of the British Armed Forces, General Sir Mike Jackson, has called on the Government to appeal a ruling that servicemen and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are covered by human rights laws.


General Sir Mike, the chief of the general staff during the Iraq war, said he feared the potential threat of legal action over battlefield decisions could prevent commanders from taking the initiative.

Speaking on the Today programme, he said it would enter the "realms of the absurd" if there developed a need to seek legal advice before taking such action when under fire and called for "sensible limits" to be established.

He urged MoD lawyers to determine the potential implications of the ruling as soon as possible with an appeal to the House of Lords.

Sir Mike is the most senior critic so far of the decision by the Court of Appeal on Monday to uphold a High Court ruling that troops serving abroad are protected by the Human Rights Act, despite a challenge by the Ministry of Defence.

The case was brought to court by the mother of Private Jason Smith who died from heatstroke in 2003 while working in temperatures of 50C (122F) in Iraq without air conditioning. She won a decision in April last year that sending soldiers out on patrol or into battle with defective equipment could amount to a breach of their human rights.

Lawyers now believe the MoD could be facing a flood of compensation claims from the families of service personnel killed as a result of poor or outdated equipment.

Sir Mike said a key passage of the judgement that needed to be explored was the difference between a soldier in theatre and a soldier involved in active fighting.

"I think it is a very important qualification in their judgement that the right to life of a soldier in combat is different to that of a soldier not in combat," he said.

"That is a very important statement because there is an inference from the ruling which I think concerns everybody that commanders' decisions (on the battlefield) could be subject to legal analysis years down range and that is a concern.

"The ruling needs a lot of analysis as to its applicability to soldiers in close quarters combat. What I am concerned about is that it could have an inhibiting effect on operational effectiveness for that reason," he said.

Asked whether he meant that commanders could think twice before making decisions and lose the initiative in battle, he answered: "That's is one set of circumstances which might – and I stress might because I'm not a lawyer – arise and if that were to be the case then commanders may feel inhibited from doing what they must do which is to take decisions of grave importance regarding soldiers' lives to achieve the mission they have set out to, all of this is dangerous circumstances and sometimes having to do it extremely quickly indeed."

He called on the MoD to act quickly to challenge the ruling.

"I think this is a matter of such importance to the operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces that it must go to final appeal at the Lords for a definitive ruling on the whole dimension which this represents of soldiering in the field on operations," he said.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/5348932/General-Sir-Mike-Jackson-calls-for-battlefield-human-rights-ruling-appeal.html

 

[daftandbarmy]

Ayo Gurkhali!


Gurkhas are "coming home" after famous victory on settlement

All Gurkha veterans were finally granted the right to live in Britain yesterday as the Government was forced into a humiliating climbdown.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5362137/Gurkhas-are-coming-home-after-famous-victory-on-settlement.html

 

[The Bread Guy]

BBC plans to send poet to Afghanistan battlefields
Honouring the works of Owen and Sassoon, the BBC will send Simon Armitage, who was tipped for the poet laureate's job, to Helmand province to capture the lives of British troops in conflict
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent, The Guardian, 24 May 09
Article link

When Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon told of life in first world war trenches, technology did not allow soldiers to kill at long range at the press of a button and dispatches from the French battlefields took days to reach home.

As the nature of warfare has changed, so have communications, but a BBC team is hoping to revive the British tradition of war poetry by taking one of the country's leading poets to Afghanistan.

The programme-makers plan to film Simon Armitage's response to frontline operations around Helmand province. While a handful of visual artists have worked in the theatre of war since fighting began in October 2001, Armitage will be the first poet to be granted access....

One of Armitage's poems:

The Not Dead
We are the not dead.
In battle, life would not say goodbye to us.
And crack-shot snipers seemed to turn a blind eye to us.
And even though guns and grenades let fly at us
we somehow survived.

We are the not dead.
When we were young and fully alive for her,
we worshipped Britannia.
We the undersigned
put our names on the line for her.
From the day we were born we were loaded and primed for her.
Prepared as we were, though, to lie down and die for her,
we somehow survived.

So why did she cheat on us?
Didn’t we come running when she most needed us?
When tub-thumping preachers
and bullet-brained leaders
gave solemn oaths and stirring speeches
then fisted the air and pointed eastwards,
didn’t we turn our backs on our nearest and dearest?
From runways and slipways Britannia cheered us,
but returning home refused to meet us,
sent out a crowd of back-biting jeerers
and mealy-mouthed sneerers.
Two-timing, two-faced Britannia deceived us.

We are morbidly ill.
Soldiers with nothing but time to kill,
we idle now in everyday clothes and ordinary towns,
blowing up, breaking down.
If we dive for cover or wake in a heap,
Britannia, from horseback, now crosses the street
or looks right through us.
We seem changed and ghostly to those who knew us.
The country which flew the red white and blue for us
now shows her true colours.
We are the not dead.
Neither happy and proud
with a bar-code of medals across the heart
nor laid in a box and draped in a flag,
we wander this no man’s land instead,
creatures of a different stripe – the awkward, unwanted, unlovable type –
haunted with fears and guilt,
wounded in spirit and mind.

So what shall we do with the not dead and all of his kind?

Extracted from The Not Dead by Simon Armitage, Pomona Books, 2008, £6.99

 

[Yrys]

'Grenade' brought to help desk (police station)

A police headquarters had to be evacuated when a member of the public brought
a suspected World War I hand grenade into the building.

West Yorkshire police said the device was brought into the help desk area of
Javelin House, Bradford, on Saturday. Members of the public were advised
to avoid the area while the device was made safe.

The building which was evacuated is the headquarters for the force's Bradford
North division.

 

[daftandbarmy]

BBC plans to send poet to Afghanistan battlefields
Honouring the works of Owen and Sassoon, the BBC will send Simon Armitage, who was tipped for the poet laureate's job, to Helmand province to capture the lives of British troops in conflict
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent, The Guardian, 24 May 09
Article link
One of Armitage's poems:

Sassoon and Owen were soldiers who served at the front. This guy is not, and it clearly shows in his work. The taxpayers should get their money back!

 

[daftandbarmy]

England expects every man to do his duty,unless of course you
feel it would somehow infringe on your human rights.
WTF
                            Regards

NewsArse... MoD anger as ruling gives troops right to not die hideous deaths

http://newsarse.com/2009/05/mod-anger-as-ruling-gives-troops-right-to-not-di
e-hideous-deaths/

 

[daftandbarmy]

Chocks away Biggles and we'll be back in time for tea and medals...

RAF Benevolent Fund photographic auction
On Thursday 14 May, the RAF Benevolent Fund is holding a photography auction to mark their 90th anniversary

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/5313191/RAF-Benevolent-Fund-photographic-auction.html

 

[daftandbarmy]

The Service Chiefs vs the PM.
A week or so ago General Lord Guthrie told The Sunday Telegraph diarist, Mandrake, that he seriously considered resigning a couple of times when Gordon Brown, as Chancellor, blocked efforts to increase spending on equipment after it had been authorised by Tony Blair. As Prime Minister Mr Brown still seems to be thwarting the Service Chiefs at every opportunity. This story is running in a recent Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/army-fury-at-refusal-to-bolster-afghan-campaign-1693827.html

 

[daftandbarmy]

Google Earth finds the "Battle of the Nile trees" which commemorate Nelson's victory

In 1798, a British fleet commanded by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson completely destroyed a French fleet anchored near the Egyptian city of Alexandria, stranding Napoleon's army in Egypt. The British took the French by surprise.

Old Boney intended to threaten the British position in India, which had been ruled by Britain's East India Company since 1612 (though Britain wouldn't rule India directly until 1858 ), via the invasion and conquest of Egypt.

In those days, most British sailors were were highly trained professionals who were trained down to a tee on how to fire cannon as quickly as possible, whereas most French sailors were often poorly-trained and inexperienced and couldn't match the gunnery skills of the British.

At the time, Britain's huge and powerful fleet could match all the other seafaring nations' navies put together and Britain was actually the only power to actively send its vessels out to attack enemy warships.

For most nations, ships were too expensive to risk, but Britain was the world's richest nation with huge industrial and shipbuilding might.

That's why the Royal Navy often completely overwhelmed the French Navy when the two met in battle.

So the Battle of the Nile, which involved 14 British ships and 17 French ships, was a hugely overwhelming British victory.

1,700 French were killed, 600 were wounded and 3000 were taken prisoner. Nine French ships were captured, three were burnt and two were lost.

British losses? Just 218 killed and 677 wounded.

So, in the early 19th Century, landowner Baron Douglas of Amesbury decided to plant trees to commemorate this great victory, at the request of Captain Thomas Hardy and Nelson's mistress, Lady Hamilton.

The trees were planted in Wiltshire, not far from Stonehenge, and the tree clumps mark the actual positions of British and French ships during the Battle of the Nile.

Now the tree clumps have been spotted on Google Earth.

Amongst the Royal Navy ships that took part in the battle were the Theseus, the Orion, the Minotaur, the Bellerophon and the Defence.

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/history/83815-google-earth-finds-battle-nile.html

 

[daftandbarmy]

ROYAL Marines risked their lives to drag a fatally wounded pal across open ground under heavy fire in Afghanistan, an inquest heard today.

Four brave comrades tried to save Marine Alec Lucas when he suffered massive injuries after standing on a buried Taliban mine.

The troops ran to Marine Lucas and gave him emergency first aid before carrying him hundreds of yards with enemy gunfire ringing all around.
British soldiers eavesdropping on Taliban communications then overheard the enemy saying: "Bring a section down to the front line. Let's engage the infidels."
Major Nigel Somerville, the officer commanding V Company, 45 Commando, described the ensuing barrage of fire as "extremely heavy" and "well co-ordinated".
He added: "An extremely brave team realised the severity of the situation and, under extreme risk to themselves, picked up Al, having made a stretcher, and ran across the open ground.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2462691/Troops-risked-lives-to-save-pal.html

 

[daftandbarmy]

12-Gauge Benelli M4 Combat Shotgun

Up close and personal: The Benelli M4 Combat Shotgun is being deployed to troops in Afghanistan’s Helmand province

BRITISH soldiers at the forefront of fighting in southern Afghanistan have been given a new punch care of the latest addition to their armoury.
In a move to hit the Taliban at close range, troops are being armed with the combat shotgun to deal with enemy fighters concealing themselves in Helmand province’s Green Zone.

The semi-automatic 12-gauge Benelli M4 weapon was procured and dispatched to theatre less than six months after being requested as an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) by 16 Air Assault Brigade during their 2008 tour.

The kit was picked after the Infantry Trials and Development Unit (ITDU) tested and evaluated several shotguns. A number of modifications were made to the chosen model, including a new grip to make firing easier while wearing Osprey body armour and a sophisticated Eotech holographic sighting system.

The weapon, which has an eight-round magazine, is also fitted with a three-position telescopic stock, and troops are also being issued with special pouches to carry the ammunition required to deliver the knockout blow to where it is needed.

Soldiers from 19 Light Brigade are the first to be armed with the combat shotgun, and early reports from the front line suggest it is already proving its worth. The lead scout with each section or patrol is now being equipped with the firearm.

“With this equipment we have given the soldiers an excellent suppression weapon that is accurate and highly reliable,” said Maj Phil Nathan (Lancs), who was involved in testing the kit at ITDU. “It is very simple but extremely effective.

“The guys that have had experience of it so far have given it a very positive reception, and there is plenty of scope to develop its use in theatre in the future.

“Although this gun has been procured as a UOR, care has also been taken to make sure that there are plenty of them available for the soldiers to train with in the UK.”

While combat shotguns have been a feature of British operations in the past, the appearance of the Benelli M4 in southern Afghanistan marks the first time for many years that they have been widely deployed in a front-line role.

The weapon has its modern roots in the First World War, when American personnel employed the trench gun in fighting on the Western Front. This short-barrelled pump-action weapon, which was equipped with a bayonet, immediately terrified German troops and proved a deadly house-clearing tool.

British personnel last deployed shotguns on a large scale in the fighting of the Malayan Emergency of the 1950s where, like Afghanistan, there was close-range combat in a remote and extreme environment. Since then they have been restricted to niche roles and have only been carried by soldiers in specialist actions.

“Effectively we have come full circle in Op Herrick,” said Maj Nathan. “The shotgun is needed for dismounted infantry patrols in the Green Zone where there is thick vegetation similar to that in the jungle combat we’ve seen before.

“It is exactly designed for these types of close range engagements, giving you plenty of coverage and stopping power – in short, you have more chance of hitting somebody with it.

“There is also plenty of growth potential in the weapon. For example, it could be used in urban environments where the escalation of force is required, but we will only know that when it has been in theatre for some time.”

Soldier was given a preview of the combat shotgun in action during a firepower demonstration on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, where its knockout potential in dealing with the close quarter threats of Helmand was clear to see.

Firearms specialists were also convinced that the appearance of the Benelli M4 would be a huge benefit to British troops facing an unconventional enemy in theatre.

Weapons expert Richard Jones, who heads up the Yorkshire-based National Firearms Centre, said the latest addition to the Army’s armoury would prove useful.

He added: “In recent years there has been a need for a tactical shotgun, which is easier to handle than a rifle and more convenient for scenarios such as house clearing. In situations such as fighting in built up areas, the tactical shotgun has its place.”

http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/mag/feature3.htm

 

[daftandbarmy]

Parachutists launch D-Day tribute
British veterans are taking part in a series of events in France on the eve of the 65th anniversary of D-Day.

Commemorations began with a parachute drop to mark the airborne phase of the Normandy landings that launched the beginning of the end of World War II.

The BBC's Robert Hall spoke to veterans as they watched the event.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8084700.stm

 

[CougarKing]

Is this not at least the 2nd fatal training incident that has involved RAF Tutors this year?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090614/world/britain_accident_air_military

LONDON (AFP) - A pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and a school-age cadet died Sunday after their training plane collided mid-air with a civilian glider, the Ministry of Defence said.
Police confirmed the crash in Oxfordshire adding that the glider pilot parachuted to safety and was "safe and well".

A ministry statement said: "An RAF Grob Tutor aircraft has crashed following a suspected mid-air collision with a civilian glider at around 1400 (1300 GMT) today, June 14, 2009."


It added: "We can confirm that the pilot and passenger were killed. The pilot was RAF and the passenger a CCF (combined cadet force) cadet."


The CCF is a military-sponsored youth organisation programme, and typically involves students attending high school.


Earlier, police said they had been called to the site near Abingdon and confirmed two people from the light aircraft had died.


"The pilot of the glider parachuted to safety and is safe and well," they added in a statement.


The Ministry of Defence said it would conduct a "thorough investigation" into the crash, but said it was too early to comment on the probable cause.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Royal Navy captain bans brussels sprouts on Plymouth warship

No baby outhouses


http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Exclusive-Warship-captain-bans-vegetable-vessel/article-1077433-detail/article.html

 

[CougarKing]

Who knows? Perhaps with the current RAF helo pilot shortage, as mentioned in another thread, he might just have his chance, but flying an AAC Apache or Lynx in Afghanistan perhaps?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090618/world/eu_britain_flying_princes_1

Britain's Prince William hopeful he may one day fight on the frontline
Thu Jun 18, 10:23 AM

By Raphael G. Satter, The Associated Press

SHAWBURY, England - Britain's Prince William has hinted he would like to follow in the army-booted footsteps of his younger brother and fight on the front line.

But, as the future king, it's unlikely William would be exposed to the dangers faced by Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan.

"I still remain hopeful there's a chance," William, who is currently training to fly search-and-rescue helicopters, told reporters. "I think as a future leader of the armed forces, it's really important you at least get the opportunity to be credible and to do the job I signed up for, as best I can. That's all I want to do."

"The search and rescue role is now slightly different to obviously being able to go to Afghanistan, but it's still doing an important job."

Prince Harry, 24, known in the military as Lt. Henry Wales, is taking the same flight training program completed by his 26-year-old brother.


Maj. Zog Zvegintzov, the commanding officer of the defence helicopter flying school in Shawbury, in western England, has declined to say what role the younger prince would eventually have.

Harry, whose time in the infantry in Afghanistan was cut short by a media leak, could spend four months to a year training in one of the British Army's helicopters - the Apache, the Lynx or the Gazelle.


Zvegintzov said that the choice of aircraft - and where it was deployed - would depend on the British military's operational requirements at the time, adding that Harry was still a long way from completing his training.


"There are a lot of hurdles to jump en route to qualifying as an army pilot," Zvegintzov said.


The news conference was orchestrated to brief the media on the brothers' progress - and to sate the public's appetite for news and pictures. Harry and his brother strolled out of an aircraft hangar to pose in front of two helicopters left idle on the tarmac as a long line of photographers snapped away.


Harry's bemused fellow students watched from a distance. They said they had come to watch Harry hold court before the world's media.


"It's probably good for them, to have one day for the press to ask all their questions and get on with it," said flight school student Robert Parr, 24. "It's hard enough going through the course, I can't imagine what it's like for them."

 

[daftandbarmy]

Note: Deployed by Cdn Chinooks and covered by Cdn arty...

3 SCOTS repel sustained Taliban attack
A Military Operations news article
19 Jun 09
Scottish soldiers have found a large quantity of Taliban weapons and drugs in an arduous six-day operation which saw them coming under sustained enemy attack for several hours.

Under the cover of dark, troops from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) were dropped by helicopter into Kandahar Province on 10 June 2009 in an operation called Op Tora Arwa.

The Battle Group came under sustained attack for several hours from insurgents using machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) yet repelled the attacks to amass the large finds.

In all, the unit found numerous weapons including AK47s and pistols, AK47 magazines, anti-personnel mines, 1176 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 150 rounds of 9mm ammunition, explosives as well as 118kg of wet opium, 190kg of marijuana, and 110kg of marijuana seeds.

Tragically, during the deployment, Private Robert McLaren, from the Isle of Mull, who had recently joined the unit after passing out from training, was killed by an improvised explosive device.

Major Matt Munro, Officer Commanding Alpha (Grenadier) Company, said:
"Op TORA ARWA 1 was an enormous success. We emphatically achieved our mission of disrupting the insurgents, we secured the area and killed large numbers of insurgents and found and denied large quantities of his equipment and material."

"The operation was overshadowed by the tragic loss of 20-year-old Private Robert McLaren. He was a huge talent and, despite his tender years and inexperience was very highly regarded.

"He was killed by the blast from an improvised explosive device as he manoeuvred forward under accurate enemy machine gun and rocket fire in order to support imperilled colleagues. He was the epitome of a proud and effective Highland soldier. He will be sorely missed but never forgotten."
Renowned as the "heart of darkness" by ISAF commanders, the Black Watch deployed into the region from six Canadian Chinook helicopters in the early hours backed by Canadian artillery and American jets.

Operating in rugged terrain, blistering heat and under intense weight from body armour and other equipment, Maj Munro expressed great admiration for his troops.
"The Jocks are awe-inspiring. It is very hard soldiering out here and the boys are shouldering huge weights in very high temperature for days at a time in a complex, demanding and dangerous environment."

In addition to Pte McLaren, two soldiers from the Afghanistan National Army were similarly killed by an IED, and other soldiers were injured in the blast that killed Pte McLaren.

Despite the losses, the morale amongst the troops is buoyant. Private Liam Salter, aged 19 on his first tour of Afghanistan, said:
"These were the most difficult six days of my life; mentally, physically, and emotionally, definitely the hardest, but also the most exciting and rewarding."
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), took over in Afghanistan as the Regional Battle Group (South) on 10 April 2009 from 42 Commando Royal Marines.

The battalion is responsible for supporting a variety of operations across the whole of southern Afghanistan, not just those of the main UK Task Force in Helmand province.

The battalion will be based within Camp Roberts at Kandahar Airfield for their deployment and will work directly to the Dutch-led divisional headquarters known as Regional Command (South), part of the NATO International Security Assistance Force.

Kandahar is home to the forces of seven nationalities within the ISAF coalition and contains a huge array of supporting equipment.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/3ScotsRepelSustainedTalibanAttack.htm

 

[daftandbarmy]

British Army officer launches stinging attack on 'failing' UK strategy in Afghanistan

A British Army officer has launched a devastating attack on the UK's "failing" strategy in Afghanistan.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Published: 9:00PM BST 20 Jun 2009

The officer, who works in defence intelligence, has described the British presence in Helmand as an "unmitigated disaster" fuelled by "lamentable" government spin and naïvety.
Writing in the British Army Review, an official MoD publication, Major SN Miller, stated: "Lets not kid ourselves. To date Operation Herrick [the British codename for the War in Afghanistan] has been a failure".

He claimed that hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money had been wasted on a war which had failed to deliver any real reconstruction, governance or security.
Rather than "winning hearts and minds", Major Miller, who serves in the Defence Intelligence Staff serving Intelligence Corps, said the British presence had had the opposite effect.
But his most blistering attack was on the UK's counter-narcotics policy, where the illicit sale of drugs has been successfully used by the Taliban to fund the insurgency and kill British troops.
He wrote: "British policy towards the poppy crop has been an unmitigated disaster. The chief "effect" of the British presence in Helmand has been to transform Helmand into the opium centre of the world.
"This remarkable milestone was achieved just two years into the British intervention."
Major Miller's indictment of Britain's Afghan strategy can be revealed just a day after the Ministry of Defence announced that another soldier had been killed in an explosion in Helmand.
The death of the soldier, who was a member of the Welsh Guards, brings to 169 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
Maj Miller claimed that the British government "sleepwalked" into Helmand in 2006 "without any meaningful reconstruction plan, without the resources to undertake-nation building tasks, and, critically, without any desire to fight a major insurgency".
He added: "It was thanks to the tenacity of the common soldier and the paratrooper that British embarrassment was saved."
In direct contradiction to the view of the defence chiefs and the government, Major Miller added that the much-vaulted British strategy of "winning the hearts and minds" of the Afghan people in Helmand had failed.
Instead, he claimed, the opposite had happened, with polls showing that 23 per cent of the population support the Taliban in the south west of the country, a threefold increase compared with 2008.
He wrote: "Where a year (2008) ago, 81 per cent stated that the Taliban have "no significant support at all" in the area, now only 52 per cent judged this to be the case.
"Just 45 per cent of polled Afghans supported the Nato presence in the south west, down from 83 per cent in the previous year. The often repeated statement that 'the Afghans don't want the Taliban back' is increasingly open to question."
He continued: "Last year there were just 57 doctors in Helmand Province – a scandalous figure three years into the British campaign.
"Positive opinion of overall living standards have dropped by 20 points – a remarkably bitter under achievement for a campaign that purported to improve the lives of Afghans."
Maj Miller, who has served in Afghanistan, also attacks the Department For International Development (DFID) for pumping millions of pounds of taxpayers money into a government where he claimed "corruption, inefficiency and incompetence" are "endemic".
Maj Miller also castigated senior officers for the strategy of "Clear, Hold, Build", which he stated had become a "parody of itself".
He added: "We are really only clearing the immediate vicinity of the security force bases, we are only holding the major settlements, and we are not building.
"Self-protection has become the main tactic, reinforced by air strikes that can backfire and undermine the campaign.
"Even as the Army renders itself more and more immobile with heavier vehicles and infantrymen weighing as much as a medieval knight, still the fantasy of the "manoeuvrist approach is peddled in staff courses.
"There is nothing manoeuvrist about weeks of petty, attritional fire fights within a few kilometres radius of a Forward Operating Base. The reason for all this is clear – zero casualties has become the tacit assumption behind operations.
"The Taliban are not being "coerced", "deterred", or "destabilised". They simply disperse, knowing that the British cannot sustain pressure, and they return like the tide when the British troops withdraw, after a short period, back to their bases."
In concluding his essay, Maj Miller wrote the "British Army must believe that it can win wars again".
He added: "Politics needs to be squeezed out of the military campaign. The point of going to war is not to then save ministerial discomfort by avoiding casualties and buttering the media.
"Wars cost lives and the media better get used to it. The British people understand this. They are far tougher than a worried government PR man imagines. We need to win a war, not spin one."
Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP for Newark and a former infantry commander, said: "This castigates the Labour government.
"A succession of defence and foreign secretaries have tried to present the campaign in Afghanistan as benign and bloodless but that is just spin and nonsense.
"Until the government properly resources the war in Afghanistan, our strategy will fail."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/5587822/British-Army-officer-launches-stinging-attack-on-failing-UK-strategy-in-Afghanistan.html

 

[Blackadder1916]

I had long ago formed the opinion that Sandhurst had rather lax standards for the entrance of foreigners to its program, but this is a novel way to be able to say "I went to Sandhurst".
-----------------------------------------------

Army security lapse as illegal hides on bus from Germany to Sandhurst - The Sun

Afghan intruder could have wreaked suicide carnage in Sandhurst

By JOHN KAY Chief Reporter and JAMIE PYATT  Published: 18 Jun 2009

AN Afghan illegal who got into Sandhurst could have been a Taliban suicide bomber bent on causing carnage, angry soldiers said last night.

The 20-year-old man dodged security at the world-famous military academy yesterday by sneaking on to an Army coach and concealing himself in a stairwell by the toilet.

It also emerged that he:
SLIPPED into the bus, probably at Calais, as it headed to Britain from an Army base in Germany.
DODGED Britain's border controls at Dover, and
TRAVELLED amid a group of officers and NCOs, who did not notice him until the vehicle was inside Sandhurst.

A military source told The Sun: "This is an extremely serious breach of security."

Inquiry

He said the illegal could have been a terrorist or a Taliban fighter battling Our Boys in Afghanistan's Helmand province, bent on an attack in Britain.

The source added: "He could have smuggled a bomb inside Sandhurst - or could even have been a suicide bomber, which would have been catastrophic."

Journey ... likely route Afghan took to Sandhurst

The head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, was said to be "incandescent" at the breach. And he ordered a top-level inquiry.

General Sir Antony Walker, former Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, said: "All vehicles entering the academy should be searched.

"There are enough armed soldiers and uniformed MoD personnel on the gate to do this. Fortunately there was no ghastly outcome of the security breach this time. But one day there could be."

The coach, hired from a civilian contractor, left 28 Engineer Regiment's base at Hameln, Germany, on Tuesday.

It stopped briefly for refreshments in Belgium before carrying on to a Channel crossing from Calais.

Those on board were heading to a course and briefing at Sandhurst.

It is thought that when the coach arrived at the gates of the college in Camberley, Surrey, it was whisked through with only minimal checks.

Breach ... Sun's 2005 'invasion

The Afghan was discovered by a corporal and lance corporal as they got off the bus.

Police were called and he was taken to a nick at Maidenhead, Berks.

He will be fingerprinted and interviewed by UK Border Agency officers. He is expected to be sent to a detention centre and will be deported unless he applies for asylum.

Top brass ordered security at Sandhurst to be beefed up four years ago after The Sun smuggled a reporter into the college, where Princes William and Harry spent a year training to be officers.

Our man strolled around unchallenged for seven hours.
But the new scandal is even more embarrassing for the Army as the intruder came from Afghanistan - where 168 British troops have died in the last eight years.

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said last night: "Even after all the security disasters of recent years, it still beggars belief to find that an illegal immigrant can not only smuggle himself into this country, but into Sandhurst on an Army bus."

A senior officer pointed out that the academy is NOT a military garrison.  But he added: "Security should be sufficiently good to stop any intruder getting in."

Suspicions
The UK Border Agency, which comes under the umbrella of the Home Office, launched an urgent probe into what went wrong at Dover.

Random searches are carried out on lorries and coaches entering Britain, usually based on intelligence tip-offs. But a coach-load of Army officers would have aroused few suspicions.

Anyone trying to enter Britain from Helmand would most likely travel north through the rest of Afghanistan, into Turkmenistan. From there they would head into Kazakhstan, possibly via Uzbekistan, and on to Russia and Ukraine, before crossing into EU nation Poland. Once there, it is easy to travel across Europe to Germany, Belgium or France.

Other illegals with more money sometimes pay smugglers to take them by land across Turkey, then by boat to Greece.

 

[daftandbarmy]

UK forces in major Afghan assault

The Black Watch started its first deployment to Afghanistan in April
British soldiers have launched a major airborne assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
More than 350 troops from the Black Watch were dropped into Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, just after midnight local time on Friday.
Twelve Chinook helicopters were used in Operation Panther's Claw which involved British and US air forces.
The Ministry of Defence has described it as one of the largest air operations in modern times.
Air support
BBC News defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt says the arrival of extra US troops in the south of Helmand province has helped make such an operation possible.
It has allowed British forces to focus on taking on the Taliban in their strongholds, and keep the ground they have won.
Apache and Black Hawk helicopter gunships, as well as a Spectre gunship, Harrier jets and unmanned drones, supported the operation.
The aim was to establish a permanent presence in the area ahead of the Afghan presidential elections in August.

Explosive devices
The MoD says the Black Watch fought off several attacks by insurgents, and secured three main crossing points.
They also found and disabled several of one of the Taliban's main weapons - improvised explosive devices - which have proved deadly to coalition forces over recent months.
The operation comes after the 169th British serviceman was killed in Afghanistan since 2001 on Friday.
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), based at Fort George barracks near Inverness, started its first deployment to Afghanistan in April.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8114054.stm

 

[CougarKing]

???

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/

Will the real General Dannatt stand up?

With remarkable candour, a General Sir Richard Dannatt is admitting to failures in the campaign in Iraq - but others have not always agreed.

Currently, this General is telling us that Britain missed the opportunity to stabilise Iraq after the 2003 invasion and was too quick to shift resources to the conflict in Afghanistan. But that is today's view delivered to the Royal United Services Institute.

In December 2008, however, a General who goes by the name of Sir Richard Dannatt - and may be some relation - was telling the BBC, "We have achieved what we set out to achieve" in Iraq. "We have been quite clear about what we had to do and we have done it ... The job is done and Basra and southern Iraq is a much better place now than it was under Saddam Hussein in 2002."

Now, we learn that the failure of coalition forces to take advantage of the "window of consent" in the immediate aftermath of the invasion had opened the door to the Shia militias and then they had not kept enough troops on the ground - particularly as the focus of operations switched to Afghanistan.

Thus does today's Gen Dannatt say that one of the key lessons from the conflict was the need to achieve a "decisive effect" early on. "Our failure to deliver this through proper investment and a comprehensive approach and our early switch to an economy of force operation in favour of Afghanistan sowed the seeds for the dissatisfaction that followed and the rise of the militias supported so cyncially by the Iranians in the south."

He goes on to say that the coalition had also failed to ensure it had enough troops on the ground, "surging" the numbers when the situation demanded. "In truth," he adds, "we failed to maintain the force levels required, either of coalition forces or Iraqi forces, and particularly towards the later end of the campaign, by which time we were already committed to a new operation in Afghanistan."

Just to confuse matters though, there seems to be another General Dannatt, the one who gave an interview to The Daily Mail in October 2006, after we were "already committed" to a new operation in Afghanistan.

That Gen Dannatt seems to have had rather different views. Iraq was an unpopular war and "our presence exacerbates the security problems". He goes on to say: "I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war-fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".

Then this General ruminates, "History will show that a vacuum was created and into the vacuum malign elements moved," adding that, "The hope that we might have been able to get out of Iraq in 12, 18, 24 months after the initial start in 2003 has proved fallacious. Now hostile elements have got a hold it has made our life much more difficult in Baghdad and in Basra."

The October 2006 model continues with the view that: "The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East"

"That was the hope," he says. "Whether that was a sensible or naïve hope, history will judge. I don't think we are going to do that. I think we should aim for a lower ambition." And so did he conclude that we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".

"We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. "As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited into a country, but we weren't invited, certainly by those in Iraq at the time. Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in."

"That is a fact. I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing around the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them."

So, from the mouth of three Generals, all with the same name, we have various views.

In 2006, Dannatt number one was saying that British troops should get out of Iraq because their presence was exacerbating the security situation. Two years later, the second Dannatt was saying: "We have been quite clear about what we had to do and we have done it." Now the third Dannatt currently tells us that the coalition failed to ensure it had enough troops on the ground, "surging" the numbers when the situation demanded.

One of these Dannatts is Chief of the General Staff - the professional head of the British Army, which means the other two must be imposters. No one person could possibly hold such disparate views of the same campaign. The question is, which is the real one?