Recent media statements by British Army chiefs are evidence of a campaign by the military for more troops for Afghanistan
In October 3rd’s Telegraph the current head of the British Amy, General Sir David Richards, issued a ‘wake-up call to the public by warning of the “terrifying prospect” of a defeat in Afghanistan.’
On October 5th in a story that could have only have been planted in the British media by the armed forces, we are told by the BBC that ‘A front-line UK soldier in Afghanistan has told the defence secretary “more troops on the ground” are needed.”.
It is unlikely that these comments would have appeared in the media without the consent of the army top brass. Imagine if a soldier had told the defence secretary that the war was futile and that the troops would be withdrawn.
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton faces a court martial for speaking out against the war, an anonymous Welsh Guards officer who spoke out to the media was threatened with a court martial.
Today the former head of the British Army Sir Richard Dannatt “castigated Downing Street for not giving enough support in terms of men and equipment to the increasingly troubled western war effort in Afghanistan, in an interview in the Sun.”
This sequence of media stories is clearly part of an orchestrated campaign by the British Military to secure more troops and equipment for their failing war in Afghanistan.
It is yet more evidence (if more were needed) of the incredibly destabilising impact that the war in Afghanistan is having on British domestic politics.
The Military are now openly intervening in British politics in an attempt to change a government policy they do not like. They are doing so in clear opposition to the will of the British people as expressed in numerous opinion polls showing a clear majority against the war in Afghanistan.
The war in Afghanistan is leading the British military to initiate an unconstitutional and undemocratic intervention in politics.
It exposes the real centre of power in society as residing with unelected elites who act without reference to the norms of democracy when they feel their vital interests require it.
