First up our Troops are magnificent.  The honour they bring to this nation is immense.  Brave, loyal…we owe them so much.  That is why we need to help the troops and question the Government.  Whatever one thinks of the merits of this campaign we should do all we can to help support our troops.  Hence this blog has been very critical on the strategy employed during the campaign and also the lack of equipment & support we provide our troops to get the job done.

Bob Ainsworth made it VERY clear that THEaim of Panther’s Claw, the military campaign which saw British forces lose 10 men, was to bring peace to Helmand’sprovince, so democracy could take place, as voters felt safe and secure when casting their ballot papers.  On the news today he is backpeddling from that stated aim but that is to be expected from a Government caught up in its own web of deceit.

So did we achieve the objective of bringing democracy to Helmand’s and people feeling safe to cast their vote?  Yes, if you say that 107 / 107 polling stations were open…the only problem with that was that, in a region with a potential electorate of 80,000 voters….only 150 voted.  That’s a turnout of 0.18% .  This figure has yet to be fully confirmed but it wont suddenly jump above say 5%.  That was a sign that the local population still felt threatened by the Taliban.  Hence in Helmand’s the Taliban secured their goal….make feel too scared to vote.

This again throws into question the strategy employed by the Government. 

We owe our forces so much more than this.  Bob Ainsworth consistently shows himself to be out of his depth in this role and is possibly one of the most uncaring Ministers I have seen explain away soldier’s deaths on television. 

God bless our troops for operating under such poor leadership.