On the one hand I'm glad to see them coming home, but it really Tees me off that Bush and Blair are spinning this as a victory.
It's not a victory by any stretch of the imagination but southern Iraq, where British troops are based, does seem to be more stable that northern Iraq, where the US troops are. How much of that is down to the Iraqis themselves and how much is down to the differing tactics between British and US troops is unlcear though.
The south is predominatly the Shiite area, and the central government is Shiite, so they have less reason to be up in arms, so top speak. The theory I keep hearing over here is that Blair is pulling out to reduce the chances of Prince William getting wasted over in Iraq.
It's harry that's getting sent over I believe, Williams still in training I believe. Regardless, it's not as if they're going to get put in a whole lot of danger. Losing an heir to the throne of one of the most famous monarchs in the world wouldn't be so good for morale. Plus as a country we'd probably feel obligated to nuke Iraq for it.
Yes, it is indeed harry, or "commander wales" as they've dubbed him (it amazes me why we put that info in the newspapers anyway.. obv iraq is somesort of media blidnspot..) Anyhow, i'm glad Blair has withdrawn troops as it will save lives in the longrun. However, I don't feel he's doing this on behalf of Prince Harry (as a lot of English monarchs have been in service), but more like he's trying to put a positive spin on his career before it's all over. After all, there has been talk a while back of Blair's availabilty to being punished for War Crimes, but it's too little too late.. And Mr Blair is one sheep I could easily watch being led to the slaughter.
This is good news, we have wasted enough money following America blindly into a war which shouldnt have happened in the first place.
It will be interesting to see the repercussions of this, hopefully there area will stay stable. I doubt this is on behalf of the prince. Part of a monarchs role has been tradiationally to lead the forces into battle - times may have changed but fighting for your country is everything a monarch should stand for (even though for going to iraq he will probalbly get 100000000 medals for almost nothing ).
It's definitely nothing to do with Harry - I'm sure he'll be kept away from anything too dangerous. Besides, royalty have been in more dangerous situations - IIRC, Prince Andrew flew frontline helicopters in the Falklands?
Prince Andrew served in the Falklands yes, helicopter pilot IIRC...flew some very dangerous missions (flying to act as a decoy for Exocets and so forth) and wasn't wrapped in cotton wool at all! As for the troops withdrawal, is this timed for Iraq's benefit or Labour's, what with the local elections coming up soon where they're going to take a right kicking? Cynical, moi?
I'm sure you're wrong, Will. It's timed to bury the 'Cash for Honours' developments. A Stage 2 will come out at local election time.
...and what has not been announced with quite so much fanfare, is that Britain is due to send 1000 more troops to Afghanistan: Hey, it has to come from somewhere. After all, the occupation of Iraq is not even unanimously supported in Bush' own government anymore, so why should Blair hang in there? And it is all costing a bit: UK activities in Iraq and Afghanistan are costing the tax payers £5 million a day, and has far exceeded the budget set aside for it. Brown has to scrape an additional £375 million together to fund the next year. Meanwhile, Israel is negotiating with the US government (note: not the Iraqi government. They know who actually rules...) for an air corridor over Iraq to perform an airstrike on nuclear facilities in Iran. Watch this space...
Afghanistan is a cause that looks like it could actually go somewhere though. While the US maintain a large contingent there, the majority of countries forces are under NATO control, working on maintaining peace in a country where at least things aren't so messy. The Pashtun tribes have a history of driving out any foreign invaders from Afghanistan, and I don't expect they'll fail this time any more than other times. At least UK troops in Afghanistan seem to be managing something more productive than in Iraq while they're there.
