Bad Week: Afghanistan, David Cameron, Rafa Benitez, David Nutt

by Greg McDonald

It was another tragic week for the British armed forces in Afghanistan as five British servicemen were murdered by a rogue Afghan policeman. And with polls showing three quarters of Brits now oppose the conflict, and the Prime Minister castigating his allies and countenancing defeat, it was left to the brave widow of repatriated Olaf Schmid to stir British moral courage during a sad seven days.

It was a slippery week for David Cameron as the Conservatives’ “cast- iron guarantee” on an EU referendum was cast out when the Czechs signed up to the Lisbon Treaty. Though iIt proved harder to iron out Cameron’s differences with the French as he was blasted by President Sarkozy and suffered this extraordinarily pitched castrato diatribe from French Europe minister Pierre Lellouche.

It was a sorry week for Liverpool FC manager Rafa Benitez, as his awful season just got worse when Lyon’s Lisandro Lóopez fired a 90th -minute equaliser to effectively dump the Reds out of the Champions League. Still, if not just one but both of your talismanic stars are going to spend a season with their feet up on the operating table, Rafa, it might as well be the one competition where there’s nothing left to play go for but the Fair Play Spoon.

It was a testing week for science as Ggovernment advisor Professor David Nutt was sacked for declaring ecstasy “safer than horse riding”. And as Nutt’s experiment with Alan Johnson’s patience produced these explosive results in the Home Secretary’s interview with Sky, we at GWBW wondered if the Government wouldn’t be better served by employing a more “street” advisor.: As Ali G once said:, “Science – is it good? Or is it whack?”

Comments

[Neutral]

No one was more relieved than Cameron when the Lisbon Treated was finally signed by all countries - it got him out of the biggest of self-dug holes. And on another matter, as Gordon Brown and his Defence Minister apparently know little or nothing about military affairs (see Wylie below) perhaps this gentleman could enlighten us on the subject as I am sure the Prime Minister, as well as the rest of us, would all like to know the best way forward.

[Brian Wylie]

A referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would have been a reality under Cameron if it had not been ratified. Now it is, Blair and Brown and the rest have signed up to it. The only referendum worth having is whether we should be in the EU or not and I do not believe any politician of any major party in Britain has the guts to ask the question as at best it wopuld be a very close "yes" and, at worst a massive "no". Brown didn't have the referendim because he knew what the answer was likely to be and he is a Europhile.

[Bring our troops out and destroy the lot.]

Bring our troops out and destroy the lot.
There is no other way to rid the world of terrorism.

[j.loups]

Surely after 8 years of NATO-led training there are by now
a large enough group of Afghan
Senior Paramilitary Police officers who are capaple of training their own internal security patrol police officers ?? These same Senior
Afghanis can be appraised of
more recent training/intelligence methods by NATO officers as & when ! Would also save on misunderstandings & interruptions caused by interpretation in training !!

[Peter Angry]

Afghanistan has always been a land of warring tribes. Disputes were settled by captured British army .303’s and now by ex Russian AK47’s. The Taliban were never a direct threat to the west, in fact they offered some fringe benefits, as they forbade the growing of opium poppy. Now, the Taliban actively trade in heroin to fund their fight against foreign invaders. Western drug addicts, buy these drugs, which indirectly fund the procurement of weapons and local Afghani recruits to kill British soldiers – could we really be so stupid! – no; but our political leaders are!

[Tomex]

People who are opposed to our presence in Afghanistan are naively hiding their head in the sand hoping that the problem will go away so that they can get on with their comfortable lives. There will be no comfortable life if the Taliban have their way.
I am also very disturbed by the recent glamourisation of the funerals of the unfortunate soldiers who are victims of the war. The coverage is now bordering on the grotesque. I would not want this for myself or my son.

[Brian Wylie]

Under present conditions, Afgghanistan must be considered as unwinnable. Gordon Brown calls it an "insurgency" in fact it is a full blooded nasty war against a determined and vicious enemy whi just fade away and return. NApoleon use to say of generals "Yes I know he is good, but is he lucky" It's time Gordon Brown realised that even on his best days he isn't lucky and waht he understands about military affairs could be written on the back of a stamp His latest Minister of Defence knows even less and clearly has no idea how to interpret what's happening or how to correct it. We could be there forever.

[Peter Angry]

Gordon Brown, as usual, will do nothing to help our forces in Afghanistan, until he's received instructions from Obama. More helicopters required to avoid IED's ? - it's cheaper to let more British soldiers die!

[j.loups]

If there are 35-40 countries
involved with NATO in the Afghan War and British troops are so short of helicopter transport why can those countries unwilling to send fighting troops to the front line at least provide British commanders with their spare NATO helicopters & pilots ??
It seems so obvious ?? Is it because the Mandarins in Brussels refuse to allow this ?

[VOTE THEM ALL OUT AND START AFRESH]

Cameron has been making his mouth go over the past months about having a referendum that he knows would never take place because of all the backroom dealings with the rest of the corrupt governments in the countries that make up europe.

He must have been the happiest politician to hear the outcome that stopped his referendum taking place.

Dont forget that WE elect the people who misrule our country with no regard for the people who put them there.

After all the corruption that has been shown to have taken place in ALL our political parties it is now time to

VOTE THEM ALL OUT AND START AFRESH.