Gordon Brown’s latest speech gave every reason for not continuing to send more and more young people into harms way. It supports a crooked government and each time there are multiple deaths the repeated intonations “we shall remember them” sounds more and more vacuous.
The one reason given for staying “that it makes us all safer” is all decidedly odd. The presence of occupying forces, the death, destruction and general chaos to ordinary people is the greatest recruiting agent imaginable.
All this has been said time and time but the old speeches are dragged out of the drawer. Who do they persuade? Certainly most of the British population are dead against troops remaining in Afghanistan. The only people rubbing their hands are the arms companies and their shareholders. If this and Iraq go away they will look for bigger and better wars. The sad Simon Mann, released from his Congo prison last week after singing like canary at his trial, made millions as an arms trader before his involvement in the Wonga Coup. Presumably he’ll take this up again and carry on where he left off.