Brown's The New Poodle In Obama's War

Obama's pseudo-liberal luvvies have been sent in a spin with their idol sending 17,000 more US troops for the bloody, hopeless war in Afghanistan. That raises the vexed question of how many more UK troops will be sent to their deaths in this unwinnable war. War mongering Bush and his poodle Blair, will live with their legacy but will Brown come over all lovey-dovey for Obama's war?

Normally an announcement from the US and the UK on troops would go hand in hand. But not in this case.  

Ministers were quick to point out today that the US hasn't made a request for more troops. But that begs the question exactly who is calling the shots? 

Doesn't the UK government have the guts to decide its own foreign policy when the lives of our troops are at stake. 

But Obama's war has found a new poodle in Brown and his war-mongering ministers as the government is poised to send more troops to their deaths. What is unclear is what deals are being struck and what trade-offs are happening behind the scenes. 

The reticence reveals a rift between the gungo-ho MoD and its band of ministers and the foreign office and ministers who take a more sanguine approach. And with troops holed up in Iraq, the country doesn't have the capacity to increase troop numbers.  

Gradually it has dawned on politicians and generals that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable. Obamaland was supposed to see beyond the superficially muscular policies of the Bush era. But nothing changes. 

Predator drone attacks on the Pakistan border have been increasing since Obama's presidency, softening up for a spring offensive when an even larger influx of US forces is expected,  ahead of the warmer weather and national elections in August.

But we are fighting a war with no winners, only casualties, reduced to reporting deaths by numbers. 

Few politicians speak out. Instead they prefer to sit back and take the lead and the line from the US. 

It's difficult to get a true picture of the scale of fighting and even more difficult to get a rational idea of the legality and purpose of the war. 

Reporters are stuck embedded with troops and pushing the agenda set by the MoD and newsdesks back home. Reduced to reporting without rocking the boat. 

Images of well-equipped foot soldiers on urban street patrols don't tell the real story. The real war is a hard, dirty, dangerous, hopeless war, happening well out of sight of these staged publicity stunts. 

It's a war fought by the elite regiments and special forces, operating from lightly defended forward bases and easy targets to pick off. Soldiers call them them the 'invisible' enemy,  who strike and then melt into the hills. 

But the MoD, politicians and generals don't want to admit that the new Vietnam is happening now in Afghanistan. 

It took a long time for the US to come round to the harsh reality that the Vietnam war could never be won. We should heed that lesson now.

The Afghans swap allegiances to suit the circumstances. The mountainous terrain makes a mockery of any idea that an Iraq-style troop surge can succeed. As in Vietnam, tanks are useless in the terrain, so what's left is target bombing and special forces patrols and elite forces, operating from lightly defended forward bases.  

In Afghanistan, there are powerful tribal loyalties, a strong culture and centuries of tradition of non-urban guerilla warfare.  

The 'enemy' come from the north and transcend the meaningless borders between Afghanistan and the modern state of Pakistan. People with those tribal loyalties and centuries of tradition fighting invaders, don't recognise an artificial border drawn on a map.

The UN said the number of civilians killed in the conflict in Afghanistan rose last year with US, Nato and Afghan forces responsible for 39% - the highest number since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

Behind the scenes, the Obama administration is putting intense pressure on the UK to reinforce failure and send yet more troops.

But there has been no public debate about this. Not a single mainstream politician has questioned why so many of our soldiers are being sent to their deaths, or what purpose is being served by  the war. 

While defence secretary Hutton, is pushing for the extra troops, foreign secretary Miliband  seems sceptical. 

As with Iraq, the Orange Party has made no secret of its distaste for these wars and firmly believes that a war can never be won in Afghanistan. UK troops should be pulled out now before it's too late. 

The war has alienated the very people we need on our side - the Afghan people while targeting Muslim rebels plays into the hands of Al Qaeda propaganda.

Obama wants only one thing from the UK: more of our troops. 

At the moment the UK is on the verge of what is likely to be an additional military deployment without any public debate or parliamentary approval. 

The lessons and legacies of the Bush and Blair partnership are set to repeat themselves with Brown firmly embroiling the country in Obama's war.