Apparently we are weary of long wars, but could be persuaded if they are short.
Britain will have to promise quick conflicts in the future with strict time limits and ambitions if ministers want the support of a “war weary” public, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, has warned.
Mr Hammond said there is a “climate of scepticism” around intervening in broken states after ten years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even the threat that failing to tackle unstable states breeds terrorism that will directly affect the UK no longer convinces the public of the need to act, he said.
I don’t want quick conflicts any more than I want long ones. I want none at all. The only time I expect our forces to engage an enemy is in defence of the realm – not poking about in other people’s civil wars. If various middle eastern countries want to tear themselves apart and slaughter each other, that is up to them. It is not our place to intervene.
Future “engagements” by the British military will also have to include “quick wins” to satisfy the public both in the country they go in to and back home.
No. Unless there are massed troops waiting to cross the channel and invade, there is nothing we should do because it is none of our business. We are not the world’s policemen and we should mind our own bloody business.
He said the British Government had to accept the “reality of the climate we operate in” that most Western populations were war weary.
Hardly surprising when we have been at war for over ten years for no good reason – other than to bolster the already over-inflated egos of politicians.
Since when has any of the three cheeks of the same arse party’s decision makers given a tuppeny fart what the people who pay their wages, and in some cases, incredibly, actually vote for them, think.
Jeez do these people like the sound of their own voice, patronising a population they hold in the deepest contempt, whilst mumbling weasel words as if they really gave a fuck.
High time these war monger swine behaved the old way of honour, problem with Mr X?, a foreign dictator formerly flavour of the month and whose arse they kissed last year, now public enemy number one?
Hows about going up to Mr X you bastards and swiping him round the cheek with a gauntlet, your choice of weapon sir…meet at dawn and the job jobbed, survivor wins.
I agree about keeping our noses out, our services would be far better employed keeping our borders safe instead of the porous bloody mess they currently are.
Aha, well that helps explain why they want to send EU troops to sort out the mess in the Cental African Republic. Partly to placate pissed off French voters (previous post) and to disguise the fact that all it takes to beat the crap out of an invading force is commitment – and time.
http://www.thejournal.ie/central-african-republic-irish-defence-forces-1254895-Jan2014/
And now Cameron & Hollande meet to discuss setting up a joint military force. (Oh and would they mind terribly taking a part share in one of those sordid aircraft carriers that Brown landed us with).
http://www.france24.com/en/20140131-cameron-hollande-defence-eu-reform-summit/
Philip Hammond doth speak with forked tongue.
(Note to webmaster: It worked! Ta)
Jolly good.