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The war in Helmand cannot be lost on the streets of Wiltshire
Monday, 23 November 2009
What if there had been a weekly Wootton Bassett welcome home for the coffins of those soldiers? What if the grief had been screened from morning to night across the UK as is happening with the dead from Afghanistan?
Another soldier dies in Helmand province. Another funeral procession passes through the Wiltshire village of Wootton Bassett. Last Friday saw the 100th such repatriation when the bodies of two more soldiers arrived at RAF Lyneham and were transported through the village. More than 200 bodies have been honoured in this way since 2007.
To put that in perspective, it is worth reminding ourselves that Northern Ireland claimed the lives of 763 soldiers, with 102 killed in 1972 alone - more than the current year's total for Afghanistan.
We have experienced Helmand province on our very doorsteps.
It was known as bloody Ulster to the outside world.
It was just as dangerous for the British Army and its soldiers, just like the one pictured right, at times even more so, than Afghanistan is proving at the minute.
For the obscure place names of that far-flung land, read south Armagh or east Tyrone or west Belfast during the darkest days of Northern Ireland's Troubles.
As I walked down Whitehall last week in the gathering gloom of a mid November evening, passers-by were stopping to survey the profusion of freshly-laid poppy wreaths strewn around the base of the Cenotaph.
The conflict in Afghanistan burns deep in the body politic of the UK today.
Some say it is Britain's Vietnam. 'Bring our boys back' seems to be the mood of the moment. Whatever battles are being won abroad, the biggest one of all is being lost at home at the court of public opinion.
What if the debate about withdrawal had achieved a similar head of steam when more than 20,000 soldiers were needed to patrol the streets of Northern Ireland in the 1970s?
What if the troops out of Ulster campaign had succeeded as the call for troops out of Afghanistan seems to be today? It is easy to forget, but there were politicians, commentators, newspapers and tens of thousands of the general public in Britain who supported the withdrawal of troops from Ulster.
Among them were many of Tony Blair's bright young New Labourites who cut their political teeth in the early 1970s, parading around Trafalgar Square under the banner of the Troops Out Movement.
Most of us are not sufficiently versed in the complexities of the Middle East to make a valued judgment on whether the British Army should be there or not.
We rely on foreign correspondents and on the views of generals and politicians.
Just as there was no simple solution to our problems, there appears none in Afghanistan. Yet we have reached a point where a majority of the public are favouring the troops out demand.
Thankfully, no such numbers ever favoured withdrawal from our streets. The consequences would have been horrifying.
We should not jump on the bandwagon of the troops out brigade without weighing carefully the arguments for and against the continued presence in Afghanistan. Is television news really providing a balanced picture?
I'm sure the good people of Wootton Bassett believe they are doing the right thing lining their streets and paying homage to the dead.However, many may influence public opinion in a direction that is not intended.
TV news relies on images and the sad faces and grieving of Wootton Bassett are a Godsend to any producer required to satisfy the appetite for 24-hour TV news.
As a result, I fear we are being fed an unduly negative picture of the war in Afghanistan - one in which soldiers die rather than one in which they are saving lives as they did in Northern Ireland.
It should come as no surprise therefore that the opinion polls are so heavily skewed in favour of troop withdrawal because the emotional images of the dead outweigh all else relating to Afghanistan.
No wonder a majority want the troops home. No wonder the Government is losing the argument for continued deployment. No wonder morale is sapped amongst serving soldiers.
No matter how convincing the arguments in favour of staying put in the Middle East, they are being lost in the television images of hearses and coffins passing through an English village.
On the experience of Northern Ireland, a more informed debate is needed, but I doubt if the public sees beyond Sky News and Wootton Bassett. That is a dangerous simplistic way to judge the battle against the Taliban - just as it was with the forces of terrorism in Northern Ireland.
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The BBC are single handed stopping a war .Quite an achievement for an unelected body) .A friend of mine who fought in Korea told me the deaths so far were a couple of shell holes worth of casualties in most other wars.Northern Ireland ,a country we invaded centuries ago, killed thousands . Sometimes I am ashamed to be British .Stop the ludicrous fake mass mourning now .It doesnt become our people .
Posted by Alfs boy | 30.11.09, 15:00 GMT
Afghanistan is hardly on our doorstep like Northern Ireland is it? Afghanistan is a totally different culture, people, religion, etc. They are not ours and we should get out as quickly as possible.
Posted by Andy | 29.11.09, 09:37 GMT
Excellent article. It is disturbing to realise the extent that 24 hour news governs our society. It will only get worse too.....
Posted by J Stanley | 27.11.09, 16:11 GMT
It is condescending and patronising to say that the Public are so affected by over emotional images and words from National and International Mainstream Media.To think that the Public are incapable of seeing things for themselves and thinking for themselves and are even interested in what MSM (Mainstream Media) says more about the Author of this opinion than about the Public.
The Media generally operate on the basis of stirring up controversy, that is what they seek; they want to generate fear and confusion. Fortunately the Public see beyond this rhetoric and spin and are tired of it as evidenced by the rapidly diminishing willingness of the Public to support MSM and their political and ideological masters.
War begets War, Violence begets Violence. The history of N.I. proves that concept. That is the simple truth which needs to be understood by Politicians and pundits alike.
Posted by Gerald | 27.11.09, 13:44 GMT
Our small Irish Army (about 9,000 strong - well equipped and very well trained) punches WAY above its weight on UN peace missions in numerous trouble spots and has done so for many years.
However it is not in our ethos to use them in an aggressive way in other peoples countries where we have no right to be. We know to much about being subdued ourselves (though never conquered) to buy into that. Thus our neutrality.
As a legacy of Empire the British mindset has no problem with aggressively going where their army has no right to be. I mainly mean English mindset, and it has always astonished me how so many young Scots etc will give their lifeblood for some "cause" which is basically none of their business. It's that or the dole I suppose.
Sad that young men die, but the reality is that a soldier's job is to kill fellow human beings. But It works both ways.Perhaps the Iraq war and pending defeat in Afghanistan will bring 21st century and not 19th century thinking to bear.
Posted by Evergreen | 27.11.09, 07:05 GMT
How many Afghan people have been killed by British forces in their own country since 2007?
Posted by Tom | 27.11.09, 00:14 GMT
ROI already had a plan to send troops into the North. Without UK troops to stop them, it would have been rather easy, even with their small army. That's how there would have been a united Ireland.
Posted by bill w | 25.11.09, 15:03 GMT
Troops leaving would have resulted in a united Ireland. What planet did you live on. There was ethnic cleansing on the streets of Belfast before they arrived. Troops leaving Northern Ireland would have resulted in another Balkans situation in Ulster. Where would have been the unity in that. ?
Posted by Sam | 25.11.09, 08:44 GMT
This is a thought provoking article, one that has obviously hit home to some. I don't think he is saying the people of Wootton Bassett are wrong but merely that the are exploited by the media. It raises a good point that the media only focus on the dead and not the good work that is being carried out by all of the British forces in theatre, not simply the Army. Those who have perished should be remembered for who they were and what they achieved, not that they were a number.
Posted by Servedinafghan | 25.11.09, 07:27 GMT
Mr. Curran, the obvious answer to your question about what would have happened if British troops had been pulled out of NI-- today there would be a united Ireland. Was that answer really not obvious to you?
Posted by bill w | 24.11.09, 19:35 GMT
Mr Curran, I agree with every word you say.
Nothing demoralises a soldier more than defeatism at home. And nothing encourages his enemy more, particularly an enemy like the taliban or the I.R.A, who play the long game.
The press and the government are as much to blame. One for creating a sensationalist imbalance, and the other for not highlighting the positive results of our presence in Afghanistan.
Posted by A Former Squaddie | 24.11.09, 10:06 GMT
I feel, as Mayor of Wootton Bassett, I must respond to this article on behalf of my town due to the implied criticism of our show of respect and support at the Repatriations.
If you were to take a straw poll of the people standing on our High Street during a Repatriation (and they come from far and wide), I am sure you would find a wide range of views about the war in Afghanistan. For this reason, we are extremely careful in making sure that none of the comments we make can be twisted to seem like they are support for either the war, or for bringing our troops home.
What you would find is 100% support for the troops. That is the distinction.
Certainly in our town, there is no over simplification of the war. We spend time talking to the families and the comrades of the fallen, and so we are acutely aware of how complex the issues are.
We don't "think" we are doing the right thing, we know we are. Whether the spin put on it by different reporters is appropriate is another matter.
Posted by Cllr Steve Bucknell | 23.11.09, 09:28 GMT
Part of the solution to the problems in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan is to withdraw the troops.
Posted by Lucy | 23.11.09, 08:52 GMT
What a daft rant. Difference is that troops are fighting a pointless war in Afghanistan - thousands of miles away. There is no need for them to be there unless you suck in the propaganda. That is the difference.
Posted by M Jones | 23.11.09, 08:52 GMT