The singing starts.

It`s been a quiet few days in Afghnistan and Iraq, maybe the winds of change are blowing.

Whilst career soldiers clamour for more troops and more helicopters, wiser political minds are calling for negotiation and settlement.





From Britain, Kim Howells calls for withdrawal....




The UK and the US are still in financial doo-doo, with rising unemployment, falling currency values, and they have earned the contempt of the Asian/ Moslem world, and are not particularly welcome in Latin America, or Africa....


The independent carries a fair editorial comparing the situation to that of former presidents, who "inherit" a war.




Apart from these two leading voices for ending the war, there is also a growing sense of disbelief and scepticism amongst the taxpaying voters.
No-one really believes any more that the Taliban are planning to invade the world, or that Iraq is/was full of WMD`s.



Whilst some think wars are won on the battlefields, the tactics and weapons are far more diverse, and it`s fair to say that if nothing else the US/NATO incursions have exposed the military forces of the West as lacking the most important pre-requisite for winning a war, and that is, as according to the Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu the moral imperative..., that is to say the full support of their people, the troops and the generals.


It`s pretty obvious, given the rising amount of public protest, even the troops are beginning to doubt the purpose of these wars, and without doubt, the huge spending defecits in the UK and US are going to have to be curbed, and cuts to budgets will have to be made.

We use £50 million helicopters, which are downed by Taliban fighters with cheap Kalashnikovs,... Multi-million pound tanks, destroyed by £100 roadside bombs.

Maybe that`s what we should do in terms of defence spending... equip every town and village with a cache of roadside bombs, give every one a Kalashnikov , and then if any stupid warmongering bastards come round wanting a war, we can follow the example of the the Afghans, and the Vietnamese, the Irish, (to name but a few!) and send any invaders back whence they came.

Let`s face it, the "war" has been lost, not because of insufficient soldiers, nor because of tactics, nor for lack of helicopters or troop transporters, but simply because US and NATO forces lacked the moral imperative.