POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY ALLAN MALLINSON IN THE TELEGRAPH
Allan Mallinson, this is simplistic, uninformed propaganda.
"Undermined at home" smacks of charges of "defeatism" or "stab in the back" or "fifth columnists," and in using it, you demonstrate a lack of clear thought.
Morale always suffers when you send armies to do the wrong thing, and Iraq and Afghanistan were colossal mistakes.
The British public had overwhelmingly shown its opposition to the invasion of Iraq, but Tony Blair managed to abuse the immense power of a modern prime minister by joining in that pointless mass murder.
Afghanistan cannot be "won" because you are fighting a major part of the population itself, and you are attempting to foist institutions and customs on a people mostly not ready for them.
The invasion of Afghanistan was the product of Bush/Cheney/ Rumsfeld paranoia. The fact that major NATO nations refuse to seriously engage there is owing to the simple fact that they do not perceive a threat there. As well, they do not see how anyone can "win."
The Bush administration was the most shamefully ignorant and brutal in memory for any Western society. Blair's having slavishly followed that troika from hell speaks for itself. The man is an ethical nullity.
Given those facts, your words ring oddly uninformed and, indeed, rather dangerous.
