Defence

The last British troops are now leaving Iraq

On Sunday, the last British troops will leave Iraq; by now, there are only a handful left. True, we will maintain a role in training the Iraqi navy, but this will be the formal end of one of the most controversial military interventions of recent times.

You can be forgiven for not even having noticed that we were still there: in Britain, everything about Iraq is low-key now. Tony Blair’s second appearance before the Chilcot Inquiry attracted dozens, rather than hundreds, of demonstrators. There are still sporadic attempts to generate rage and debate about the Iraq… Read More

Pathetic (Photo : AFP)

There is something rather pathetic about the release of a Bin Laden audio tape that was apparently recorded the week before his death. In it he lavishes praise on the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and called for more “tyrants” to be toppled.

What this shows is just how out of touch bin Laden was with the current political trends taking root throughout the Arab world, which has more to do with demands for democratic government and economic reform than the establishment of an Iran-style Islamic state.

But then it’s hardly surprising that bin Laden was struggling to keep abreast of modern developments a… Read More

David Cameron and Liam Fox (Photo: PA)

In a letter leaked tonight, Liam Fox has rejected David Cameron’s plans to increase UK aid spending to 0.7 per cent. The reverberations of this are likely to be felt for some time to come. Some thoughts before bedtime:

1
Dr Fox and Mr Cameron don’t get along and never have. Since they fought for the leadership in 2005, close observers say their relationship has been difficult, marked by suspicion and sporadic rows. Mr Cameron considered denying Dr Fox the defence job in government; his failure to win a Commons majority last year thwarted that plan…. Read More

A meeting of the National Security Council

A while ago, I wrote a grumpy blog post about the National Security Council, asking what its purpose is. In retrospect, I was probably a bit strident and angry in that post: my intent was to highlight the NSC’s non-involvement in Afghan withdrawal decisions, not question its very purpose.

That hindsight has been assisted by a variety of Whitehall people, who later upbraided me to assure me that actually, the NSC system works rather better than I’d suggested and certainly better than its predecessor. Several of those correspondents are people whose opinions I respect, so I’m happy to… Read More

Chelsea pensioners at the Royal Hospital - original provision for retired soldiers

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Government’s announcement that it is to enshrine in law the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant is that it has taken them so long to do it.

Indeed, a few weeks ago it was even suggested that Mr Cameron was trying to back away from the commitment, which is estimated will only cost the government a relatively modest £50 million a year.

But Mr Cameron has now overcome those reservations, and the government is to commit itself to providing all those who serve in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces with adequate… Read More

Vice President Joe Biden - not a target for Al Qaeda

US officials have revealed that Osama bin Laden’s diaries contain the rather startling conclusion that he didn’t think Vice President Joe Biden was worth bumping off (hat tip: a tweet from my New York colleague Jon Swaine).

According to ProPublica, the Obama administration is briefing that Barack Obama was bin Laden’s the “top target” (no surprise there) while “military chiefs like the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the defense secretary” were also major scalps.

But Joe Biden’s scalp (hair plugs and all)? Apparently, not so much. A counterterrorism… Read More

Cameron must not make the same mistake as Brown (Photo: PA)

In the year since he became prime minister, David Cameron has shown little enthusiasm for the war in Afghanistan, so it is no surprise that, within days of Osama bin Laden’s long overdue demise, he is actively agitating, as my colleague James Kirkup reports today,  for the withdrawal of hundreds of British troops from Afghanistan “within weeks”.

This reminds of Gordon Brown’s disastrous decision, shortly after he became prime minister, to halve the number of British troops based in Basra, which must go down as one of the greatest betrayals of… Read More

I bet they wish they'd bought an Alumet walling system!

… Hillgrove PR of London, who have just sent me the following:
Good afternoon.

Fears of reprisals in the wake of Bin Laden’s killing mean that Construction will have to factor in terrorist-proofing on all significant new-build offices from now on, according to double Queens Award-winning Contractors, Alumet. They have created the award-winning ABLE (Avon Beam Lightweight Enhanced) anti-bomb system, for which innovation they won their second Queens Award. The system is proven to work and is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world. Please see release below… Read More

Barack Obama taking inspiration from the Wild West (Photo: White House)

A few days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush announced how he wanted to deal with Osama bin Laden. “I want justice,” he said. “And there’s an old poster out West that says, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’

“Many Europeans greeted the comment with an eye roll. This was “Dubya” fulfilling the stereotype of the gung-ho Texan cowboy who had no time for the niceties of international law, due process or innocence until proven guilty.

Among the Americans who objected was Laura Bush, the First Lady, and eventually even… Read More

There’s been a fair amount of – how shall I put it? – sucking up to President Barack Obama over the past week for his decision to send in the US Navy SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden. Certainly, it was a bold gamble that paid off richly and if it hadn’t it could have crippled his presidency.

But rather than let Obama’s actions speak for themselves, his aides and allies have gone into overdrive and “gutsy” has become the word of the week. As in:
When President Obama was faced with the opportunity to act upon this, the president had to evaluate the  strength of that information and then made what I believe was one of  the most gutsiest calls of any… Read More