Mission Impossible In The New Vietnam

More troops are to be sent to their deaths on a fool's errand in the Afghan killing fields. Obama is set for a Mission Impossible surge with poodle Brown behind him, pinning hopes on everything coming up roses in time for crucial elections.

Both Washington and London are spinning an 'end game' to dupe a war-weary public on both sides of the Atlantic in a blatant election ploy.

After months of dithering, a rerun of the disastrous Bush/Blair Iraq debacle is on the cards with an increasingly sceptical public left to pick up the pieces.

Der Spiegel put it well: Obama's rallying call to the nation felt like "a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric, leaving both dreamers and realists feeling distraught."

Here Brown doesn't blink without first running it past Washington. Singing from the same hymn sheet, the outline of a 'timetable' has been carefully set up to keep the folks sweet.

Obama's popularity is plummeting. Mid term elections are looming. A president who built up hopes closing Gitmo, only to dash them, plans to end the war by getting in deeper.

Public approval for Obama's war has taken a nose dive with noticeable opposition from within his own Democratic party.

It's Vietnam all over again. The Taliban are the new Reds. Johnson and Nixon have been replaced by Bush and Obama who like Nixon promised to 'end the war' by getting in deeper.

Ahead of Obama's 30,000 troop surge, his poodle Brown got in early with 500 more UK troops and a few lamentable excuses, throwing in everything including the kitchen sink.

In a desperate search for a reason, Brown too is embroiled in a bitter battle to win over hearts and minds and capture the hopeless argument in the run up to the general election.

Apparently the armed forces now have the equipment needed to send in more troops. That begs the questions: why were ill-equipped troops sent to their deaths in the past? Shouldn't the right kit and proper support be in place before a country decides to wage war in a far off land?

Bogeyman Bin Laden popped up again as public enemy number one, with Brown urging a new push to hunt him down. Er, wasn't that what they were supposed to be doing ever since 9/11?

Now Brown has repeated his old con that sending in more troops will help keep the streets here safe. Poppycock. The London underground bombers were British not Afghan and trained in Pakistan not Afghanistan.

To top it all, there's a wonderful pre-election photo-op in January with an Afghan London summit.

As Obama and Brown embark on a fool's errand with mission impossible, some fools may be fooled by the spin. The Orange Party isn't. A US pull out, timed to coincide with election campaigns, is a despicable way to use the lives of brave troops for petty party political ends.

The sheer pace of Obama's military deployment mimics Bush's 2007 troop surge in Iraq. But the war-mongering pair can send as many troops as they can, it won't make a jot of difference. This is is an exercise in futility and failure.

People feel duped by a hopeless unwinnable half-hearted war now at stalemate. Opinion polls in the UK resonate with those in the US.

But Brown's government has bound itself to Obama's war, fought with all the fervour of Bush neo-cons, right down to the surge. An accelerated timetable with a built-in endgame smacks of electioneering.

As with Iraq, MPs have been duped, this time with a promised hand over to Afghan control. Oblivious to tribal allegiances of corrupt Afghan security forces, more troops will be sent to their deaths. A high price to pay to prop up corrupt and discredited Karzai.

But stepped-up 'training' for Afghan forces will allow Brown and Obama to claim everything is hunky-dory, just in time for those elections back home.

NATO and other allies will have to contribute additional troops to a war that is deeply unpopular in Europe. Setting out a rough timeframe is a sure sign of mounting concerns on Capitol Hill. But how Obama intends to pay for his escalation is left in the air with the extra cost put at around $30 billion.

Supporting a corrupt Afghan government by adding more troops is a fool's errand. As in the UK, the US public is waking up to the fact that the Afghan Taliban is not a direct threat to the US or UK. The threat comes from Islamic fundamentalists trained in Pakistan. The public has no stomach for Brown and Obama's war.

Like Bush and Blair before them, the new warmongers are doomed to failure in a hopeless, unwinnable war. Once again the public is being taken for a ride with the olive branch of an 'end game'.

Stubbornly refusing to learn the lessons of Vietnam, the Blair/Bush legacy of Iraq and now Afghanistan will come back to haunt them. And like in Vietnam and Iraq, it is troops and civilians who will suffer and bear the brunt of a bloody taste for war.

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Watching A Wounded Dog Die

Beleaguered Brown's sparse news conferences should come with a government health warning. The struggling Supreme Leader was on the ropes with ropey replies to hungry hacks baying for blood.

Opening salvos about that "letter" showed no signs of abating, carried over the usual 24 hour news cycle. No wonder spinners are spooked. A sorry spectacle signalling the dying days of a fag-end government.

Brown's personality once again has become the story, despite New Labour lackeys trying it on with a sympathy card and attacks on the Sun. Whipping up pity does not win votes.

First Mandy then Brown mouthpiece Whelan have been wheeled out to call all the kettles black, pushing the line that Brown is being unfairly 'smeared' by an election mode Sun.

Instead of shutting down a damaging story, Brown floundered without answers which would appease a public firmly on the side of a mum who has lost her soldier son.

The Sun's transcript of Brown's phone call to an angry and distressed Jacqui Janes shows a woman genuinely insulted by the letter and concerned over the lack of equipment for troops. And that makes a mockery of all the political fancy talk of "listening to the people".

The Orange Party said yesterday - the only view that counts is that of a grieving mum. Not the Sun nor a Downing Street dirty ops brigade trying to flood newspaper comments pages with the 'line to take'.

The pressure at Bunkered Brown's news conference - the only one in four months - was relentless. Afghanistan and mixed messages over 'mission' creep showed up the woeful lack of a compelling case for war and the presence of troops in the Afghan killing fields.

Is Kelly being stitched up over MPs' expenses? A vulnerable UK AAA credit rating? Unchecked immigration? Water off a duck's back. Buried deep was a question on a Downing Street petition calling for Brown's resignation. Buried somewhere was a significant policy announcement over the NHS.

A Party which cannot get a policy message across is doomed to failure. Shallow, insincere Blair could play the crowds, deal with a hostile press and capture a public mood.

The party game of will the Party dump Brown raised its predictable head, with Miliband’s apparent decision not to be seen as a rat deserting a sinking ship for Brussels.

Some have intimated Miliband made the decision over the EU foreign minister job all on his lonesome for the sake of his family. What rot. He'd jump at the job given half a chance. Both PMs call the shots here. For whatever reason decided in smoke-free rooms, Bananaboy is tied to Pussycat Peter's apron strings and at the PMs' beck and call.

Does that mean Mandy will finally cast off Brown like an old boot and make his move with a Miliband? And is Boney Blair still in with a chance as president of the EUSSR?

Whether it's the 'letter', Afghanistan, the economy or another fine mess, these are all messes of Liability Brown's own making. A man convinced of his own rectitude, bent on screwing up the country before the new lot get their feet under the table.

As Oborne pleaded: You may be doomed Mr Brown but stop dragging us down too:

"Gordon Brown's only motivation in office now seems to be to try to guarantee that Britain is ungovernable if Cameron wins power. Not only is this tactic reckless and shameful, it means that the British people will pay a devastatingly high price for the last six months of Brown's profligate government."

Watching a wounded dog die is not a pretty sight. Someone must put him and the country out of their misery. The questions remain: who, what, where, when, how? Or maybe why bother, when the old dog of a New Labour project has reached the end of its life.

Mid picture: Sun front page

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Brown's 'Letter' Stinks

Blundering Brown is trying to dig himself out of a hole of his own making after sending a "hastily scrawled insult" to the mother of a death soldier. The only view that counts is that of a grieving mum.

Brown has telephoned the mother Jacqui Janes to say he did not mean any offence by misspelling the name of her dead soldier son. But that's not the point.

Of course he "would never knowingly misspell" a name. It's the pathetic presentation of a letter which should have taken pride of place which sticks in the throat.

Barley a month has passed since Hove guardsman Janes, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol in Helmand. The family is still grieving.

Describing the prime minister's letter as a "hastily scrawled insult", his mother Jacqui told the Sun the letter had been "scrawled so quickly I could hardly even read it" and that "some of the words were half-finished". She described it as "disrespectful" and an "insult" to her son.

Outrage, anger, pity and even lame excuses are coming thick and fast.

Trying to condone the insult, some are alluding to Brown's eyesight as an excuse. Some suggesting perhaps he was 'dog tired' when he wrote it. Downing Street spinners are even insinuating Mrs Janes is somehow in the wrong. What utter nonsense.

Brown is the prime minister for goodness sake. His sentiments should have been a source of comfort. Didn't anyone bother to check the letter before popping it in the post?

Image you've just lost a loved one in Afghanistan. You're trying to come to terms with the death. Regardless of your views on the war, you want to support the brave lads out there who are doing a damn good job. You look to the prime minister of the country for leadership.

Then a scribbled gaffe-strewn excuse for a condolence letter pops through the letter box. What on earth are you supposed to think and feel? What on earth are you supposed to do with it? Stick it on the mantelpiece? It's a disgrace.

The letter wasn't sent out on a whim. Nor was it sent out of the kindness of the PM's heart. It is official policy for the prime minister to write to the families of all service personnel killed in action while on operational duties.

As the BBC and The Times point out, it is sent in accordance with published MoD guidelines.

Like a letter from the Queen, a top and tailed typed letter would have taken pride of place. It would have helped. It would have meant something. It would show the guy at the top is on top of the job. It would have shown Brown understands that people - and names - matter.

But not missing a trick, Downing Street even had the cheek to spin the latest pathetic excuse for the war into the reason for writing a letter in the first place:

"The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died to protect the people of Britain."

The Orange Party doesn't know what is worse. Brown's insulting scrawl, his apparent failure to bow his head at the Cenotaph or a Downing Street spin machine trying to wriggle around with a pathetic justification for why this mum's son had to die in the first place.

FOOTNOTE: The Orange Party has a personalised top and tailed typed 'condolence' letter from a secretary of state sent in entirely different circumstances. Sure he didn't type it or even personally write the sentiments but it's still a reminder of awful events and a treasured possession.

Top picture: Sky News

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Time To Leave Afghan Killing Fields

On this Remembrance Sunday, the Orange Party joins growing demands for an immediate withdrawal from the bloody, hopeless unwinnable war in Afghanistan. As nations remember the dead, a poignant reminder comes from one of the most powerful, haunting endings in cinema - the closing sequence of Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War.

Oh! What a Lovely War: Directed By Richard Attenborough (1969)

Top picture: Gerald Scarfe, Sunday Times

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Afghanistan's Catch-22 Madness

A war weary public on both sides of the Atlantic is braced for the next outrage as the Afghan war takes its deadly toll. Here deluded Brown is sending mixed messages, as the tide turns on his insane war.

The new Vietnam is living down to its name and the fall-out is reaching ugly proportions.

America is bracing itself for a backlash after a US muslim army major's merciless massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. The murder of UK soldiers by an Afghan 'police infiltrator' adds weight to the 'troops out' call.

In the US, where the war wounds of Vietnam linger in the minds of many, the tide is turning. The massacre at a US army base brings home the mess of America's own making. A perverse Heller's Catch-22, with a psychiatrist at the centre of the killings and the insanity of war. What does a sane man do in an insane society?

Army psychiatrist, major Hasan, was heard shouting the Arabic phrase Allahu akbar (God is Great) before killing 13 and wounding 30 at the vast Fort Hood military base. The devout muslim had spoken out against the war and was dreading his posting to Iraq or Afghanistan. The FBI is pouring over internet postings about suicide bombing purporting to come from the shooter.

Did US authorities know if Hasan was in contact with Islamic extremists? No one, it seems had bothered to check or keep tabs on him for fear of accusations of religious persecution. Some are already questioning whether the victims were killed by political correctness.

It can only get worse. Public opinion has turned, with opposition to the war rising sharply. Yesterday's YouGov survey for Channel 4 News showed a massive seventy-three per cent of people wanting troops to be withdrawn.

Today the Telegraph reports the views of families of servicemen killed in the Afghan killing fields. Their message is clear. This is the new Vietnam. We should pull out now.

But as one relative pointed out all too clearly, it takes a politician with guts to order a withdrawal for fear of it being seen as a retreat.

The latest justification for invasion - to train up Afghan police - has been exposed as a myth with the execution of five soldiers by an Afghan 'policeman'.

In Afghanistan money talks, tribal loyalties run deep and corruption is rampant. The 'rogue' policeman fled to the mountains to join his comrades in arms.

The Orange Party has long banged the drum for a complete withdrawal. This was always going to be a bloody, hopeless, unwinnable war.

Yet Brown says "we will not walk away from the Afghan mission". Which of the many mixed "missions" is that? Just who is the "we"?

Not the public. Not relatives of those killed. Not the brave troops who are 'doing a job' because they are professional soldiers. And not politicians who join ex-foreign minister Kim Howells' call to pull out and use some of the cash saved to beef up homeland security. Pragmatic realism chimes with many in the true Labour party.

The "we" is the MoD, the vested interest of a department for international development (DfID) and the Obama administration still stuck in its neocon past.

The stalemate is set to continue while Brown is propped up by a canny Conservative opposition that's keeping its distance and LibDems who cannot decide whether to come off the fence.

Brown's latest throw of the dice came today with a warning to corrupt Karzai to clean up his act. Or else what? A leopard cannot change its spots. None of that cuts any ice with the public. They just want the boys home.

Both Brown and Obama are under pressure from generals to send in more troops. Brown is following Obama's lead. Obama is burying his head in the sand. Both are dithering with crucial elections coming up next year.

A war is being fought which few people have the stomach for or believe there is a cat in hell's chance of winning. The senseless killing of civilians by aerial bombings will continue. As usual it is the innocent who will suffer.

Troops will be picked off by an invisible enemy on over-stretched supply lines and lightly defended forward bases. Civilians will turn on their western masters with suicide attacks. Soldiers will be sent to their deaths to prop up a corrupt regime. Public opinion will harden with nightly images of the boys being brought home in a box.

That was Vietnam - that too is Afghanistan. To pretend otherwise is to betray the brave souls who've paid a high price and given their lives in the Afghan killing fields.

Only a true leader with balls can order a retreat from an insane war without it been seen as defeat.

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Carry On Up The Karzai

Corrupt Karzai has 'won' joke Afghan 'elections'. What a carry on. Brave souls have paid a high price to prop up a crooked government, sent to die in Afghan killing fields. What a waste of life.

Bold as brass, deluded Brown had the bare-faced cheek to "congratulate" corrupt Karzai on his re-election "victory". The public must be scratching their heads in disbelief.

The Downing Street spin machine talked up the discredited sham of Afghan 'elections' to dupe voters in an unwinnable war. Embedded reporters were dispatched to prop up the mess. Today it all fell apart.

The first round of the 'vote' was marred by the sickening spectacle of mass electoral fraud. Now election chiefs in the president's pocket have ruled there is no need for a run off, after the other guy pulled out because it wasn't "fair and free."

That leaves Karzai on his lonesome, with the might of the US and UK administrations for comfort and a 'statesman' accolade from Obama's poodle Brown.

But where does that leave Brown's October 20 statement during talk of a second ballot: "It is vital that the new Afghan government has legitimacy in the eyes of its people."

Moves to bring western style democracy to Afghanistan was doomed from start to finish. Outside the tight enclave of central Kabul, the country runs on tribal loyalties, not a US-backed centralised outfit.

The Karzai "victory" however does let a few off the hook, not least dithering Brown and Obama, still pondering over a new troop surge, while the echoes of a new Vietnam ring louder on Capitol Hill.

With unopposed and unelected Karzai top dog, the 'do nothing' option becomes that much more appealing. Both the US and UK could not have planned it better if they tried. It will be all over by Christmas. Fat chance.

'Do nothing' still means the senseless killing of civilians devastated by drone attacks. 'Do nothing' still means troops sent to their deaths to prop up a corrupt regime. 'Do nothing' still means fighting a war which few real people have the stomach for or believe there is a cat in hell's chance of winning.

A war which the Orange Party suspects is being fought here between a weakened, sceptical foreign office on the one hand and an MoD and the powerful ever-growing empire of the department for international development (DFID) on the other.

Once again our troops and voters are left out in the cold and out of the loop.

Pulling out now before it's too late has long been the Orange Party's stand on this hopeless war. Use some cash saved to beef up homeland security.

Couple that with Ashdown's idea of decentralised federalist Afghanistan, based on those deeply entrenched tribal loyalties and a solution to long term stability may just be possible.

But then isn't that why corrupt Karzai blocked the former LibDem leader's move as UN envoy in the first place.

Karzai was declared the "elected president of Afghanistan" by poll officials, reports the BBC, after they scrapped the planned second round of the vote a day after Karzai's sole challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the race.

But the whole point of holding a deciding vote was to try to restore some legitimacy to the mess of an election after the discredited first round. The Karzai carry on throws up once again the legitimacy of his "presidency" and confirms his "government" is nothing more than a corrupt puppet regime.

Meanwhile the public has to suffer daily reports of deaths by numbers, shameful embedded reports from the "front line" and a discredited government relentlessly exposed for penny pinching with every coroners' inquest and official inquiry.

Mid picture: Private Eye cover

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Brown's Afghan Coat Shot To Pieces

After a little bit of leaking, Tories have been forced to reveal a new recruit in the ex-army chief fresh from delivering a broadside to Bullet-ridden Brown. The move may bring a ray of hope to war-weary voters and brave souls sent to their deaths in the Afghan killing fields.

New Labour death by Tory triangulation knows no bounds. Capture the enemy guns, tweak them a bit and turn the fire on the opponents with the secret weapon of a bit of cross dressing and a new breed of Goat.

Today it's the turn of blunt speaking ex-army boss Dannatt who's set to join Dave's 'war cabinet' after firing off an attack on Bunkered Brown over troop numbers. Another unelected crony in the Lords but this time batting for the Tories.

The BBC reports Dannatt is to become a defence adviser just a day after he revealed that his plea for 2,000 extra troops in Afghanistan was stubbornly ignored.

That, said Dannatt not mincing words, was like leaving UK forces fighting with "at least part of one arm tied behind their back".

It came as some surprise when Dannatt popped up in the middle of the Tory welcome home party. Delivering his outspoken views on Brown's War, he finally confirmed how Blinkered Brown flatly refused heart-felt requests for more boots on the ground.

The cheerleader for the troops had been at the sharp end of a nasty Downing Street smear campaign ever since his strongly-held views put him at odds with New Labour's mealy-mouthed ministers. Expect Dannatt to be nobbled with a knocking narrative.

The leak may well have been timed to steal Dave's thunder in his big speech tomorrow. Whatever. Brown's threadbare Afghan coat has been shot to pieces. It comes as another BBC survey suggests most people in the UK continue to oppose the unwinnable war.

Fannying around looking for an elusive strategy while troops are dying is no way to wage war.

But Beleaguered Brown's hands are tied to Obama's apron strings. His wannabe best friend calls the shots. At the moment Obama is firing blanks, ruling out this and that, while mutterings of the new Vietnam grow louder on Capitol Hill.

The shameful spectacle of US troops and marines brought home in a box is beginning to fill the media. Here it's now a shocking and disturbing everyday occurrence.

ITV news is making a point of delivering the gruesome message on its news bulletins every day.

The days of lions led by donkeys are hopefully long gone. No general worth his pips would willingly send troops to their deaths just to prop up a corrupt Afghan government.

Tories may like a good flex of the jingoistic muscle every now and again but Dannatt is no donkey. He's already hinted that it's now a case of put up or pull out. The Orange Party has long banged the drum for the latter.

Cameron and his foreign affairs side-kick Hague don't have war-mongering Blair's legacy to live down to. They may just listen to their army adviser and, after a lot of huffin' and puffin', bring the boys home.

That will depend on when pragmatic Dave's much-vaunted promised 'reality' kicks in and the disgrace of this hopeless, bloody unwinnable war is finally shown up for what it is.

Top picture: Private Eye

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Scotland Aide Quits In Disgust

Shameless Scotland's bag-carrier has shown the way and quit in disgust as his spineless minister sticks it out and ducks the flak. The MP delivered a broadside on Bunkered Brown's woeful lack of leadership as much as over the shamed attorney general.

The Labour MP's bold bombshell has come like a breath of fresh air in the shabby Westminster word of back-scratching.

Hesford, unpaid aide to an elected minister as well as unelected Scotland, says in his letter of resignation that he "cannot support the decision which allows her to remain in office," winning a round of applause around the land.

Shamed and shameless Scotland is still hiding behind a smokescreen despite breaking the law and handed a £5,000 fine over employing an illegal immigrant. And making a complete pig's ear trying to wriggle out of it.

In the letter, which apparently caught Blinkered Brown on the hop, Hesford says: "In my view the facts of the case do not matter. It is the principle which counts, particularly at a time when the publics' trust of Whitehall is uncertain to say the least. We have to be seen to be accountable." Quite.

Resignations of ministerial bag-carriers are now part and parcel of a fag-end government. Lower down the pecking order, they're not fully paid up members in the New Labour crony loop.

But the resignation letter speaks volumes about the current mood of backbench MPs. It's the issue of Bumbling Brown and the vexed question of his lack of leadership which caught the eye of the Orange Party.

"Could I just mention matters of policy where I believe leadership is vital," prime minister. Ouch.

"Generally, I would urge you to move as quickly as possible to withdraw from Afghanistan and to signal a change in our position over Trident replacement."

Hesford is blowing with the wind. Storm clouds are gathering ahead of next week's leaving Party conference. Backbench MPs are not happy bunnies. Scotland it seems was the last straw.

Useless Brown's empty gestures about maybe cutting the odd Trident sub doesn't cut any ice. His unwinnable Afghan war has become a shameful, bloody legacy.

As the Orange Party poignantly posted yesterday, shamed and shameless Scotland should do Macavity Brown a big favour and quit to save him more embarrassment.

Instead, not only the struggling Supreme Leader's bunkered support for Shameless Scotland but the whole issue of his lamentable leadership is back festering away in the spotlight.

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