I really don't understand politics and I guess I'm horribly naive. I've just been watching the BBC news where they report that the USA has stated its intention to launch a major offensive to clear the Taliban from its remaining strongholds in Helmand province. I think it's planned for next week. Wednesday at around 15.42h I believe. We are being warned of likely UK casualties. Now, if you were the Taliban, what would you be doing? You'd probably be thinking to yourself, "how jolly nice and polite of the USA and its allies to warn us that they're about to try to kill us all. Very gentlemanly of them. Let's have a think ... mmm, now how should we react? Ooohh, we're really scared so let's just all throw down our weapons and come out with the white flags".
Well, I'm no tactician or military strategist but judging on the allies experience to date - somehow, I don't think so.
I make no comment about the rights and wrongs of us being in Afganistan in the first place but I'd always been led to believe that a key element of warfare is that of surprise. With all the intelligence, counter intelligence, spying, hacking and goodness knows what else in these information super-highway days, in modern warfare, the element of surprise seems to have been largely lost. But to a layman like me, it does seem ludicrous in the extreme that we're announcing, big and bold as brass through the BBC, that we're about to try to annihilate the 'enemy'. Our boys on the ground must be busy writing down their last thoughts and wishes and wondering if this time, it's going to be them as their bowels turn to water. I feel quite sick, I really do.
I just give up, I'm ready to throw in my towel. What a bizzare world we're living in. When it's all over, would the last person left please switch off the lights?
Maybe they're going to drop flyers and ring their mobile phones like the Israelis did in Gaza. This way they won't be accused of 'war crimes' and have the jolly old liar justice Goldstone on their backs...
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