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The current ‘big story’ is the leaking of some 90,000 US documents on the Wikileaks website concerning the Afghan War between 2004 and 2009 and revealing many, previously unreported incidents which amount to ‘collateral damage’ or, the killing of innocent civilians by ISAF Forces whilst conducting military operations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10758578

For all the ‘noises’ made by all concerned, I do not think that this material will make one iota of difference because there is absolutely no ‘amazing revelations’ of say a “My Lai Massacre ”. Though many no doubt will seek, incorrectly to say the killing of people at a wedding party by bombs or missiles is the same which clearly it is not. Poor or bad intelligence does not equate to an Officer losing control of his men and they, then going on a deliberate killing rampage of the people in front of them.

Some Personal Points

I believe that whilst these ‘revelations’ do little to ‘explain’ the Western presence in Afghanistan to the taxpayers who are paying for it in Gold and the blood of their children and will only be used by both ‘Doves and Hawks’ to further their own myopic views of current events, there is a bigger series of questions here to be answered and the ‘answers’ that emerge may well be surprising.

But first: The person who ‘leaked’ these documents, I have absolutely no time for them. It is not just that they have betrayed a ‘position of trust’, why should they not if they genuinely believed that great evil was being done ? Better Concentration Camp Guards in Nazi German had behaved as such… No, my objection comes from this:

“Wikileaks says it delayed the release of about 15,000 reports from the archive as part of a “harm minimisation process demanded by our source”.

So what we have is someone who ‘leaked information’ but did not themselves vet it to ensure that ‘no harm was done’, NO, they delegated that to commercial interests and that must be totally wrong to any thinking person. This is not someone of any conscience or personal responsibility or, it implies a ‘deal’ prior to the ‘theft’ of the data which puts both them and Wikileaks in the ‘legal killing zone’ and frankly, rightly so, they are likely guilty of numerous Law violations or, at least, potentially.

As to Julian Assange founder of Wikileaks, having seen him interviewed a couple of times, I am not impressed, this is not a person of any great intellect or passion. He is a ‘small town boy’ trying belatedly, to prove to the people he went to school with way back then, that he is ‘important and significant’, which is all very sad, insignificant and likely dangerous.

Northern Ireland

If from a British perspective, we look at the “Troubles” that covered some 30 years, we have just one major incident: “Bloody Sunday” but the death of those 13 people overshadowed the ‘atrocities’ of the paramilitaries from both sides, both then and now and in Afghanistan today, therein lies the real danger over today’s revelations, it implies a ‘greater standard’ from Western Forces than applies in this case, to the Taliban as it did formerly to the IRA and UDA.

The real ‘victims’ of Northern Ireland have been the rest of the UK, England, Wales and Scotland. As taxpayers and providers of the soldiers that both served and died there, we the other parts of the UK have paid a heavy price being held hostage by the violence of a relatively few people. That said of course, the vast majority of the casualties came from both sides both sides of the NI Communities which just demonstrates that both are capable of enormous bestiality. The reality is that whilst the people in the South, The Irish Republic, want to see ‘fair play’ in the North, there is no way that they want the “Reunification” of Ireland, the ‘Republic’ can’t afford it and doesn’t want it, Sin Fein wants to overthrow Fianna Fáil in the South as much as it does the Unionists in the North so, unlikely to happen any time soon.

The silliest thing ever was the “Troops Out” campaign as if British troops were the problem rather than being what held these two murderous sides apart. Even if the British Government had wanted to do that and I’m sure many a British Politician wished they could, the Irish Republic wouldn’t have wanted it plus, the historical connections by blood ties from the whole of Ireland to the rest of the UK, made it impossible, it was an ‘internal’ problem that had to be dealt with.

However, in Afghanistan, we don’t have the same problem…

Afghanistan

I have argued before that from a British perspective, Pakistan because of a large UK population of Pakistani origins with strong and active connections with that Country, is the bigger threat to UK security than Afghanistan will ever be. Since the Partition of the Indian Sub-Continent in 1947 and today, as far as “any concept” of democracy is concerned, Pakistan is a walking disaster area where it has normally been ruled by Military Dictators rather than by any elected body.

In this sense, the pressure created by ISAF troops in Afghanistan plus substantial US aid, has probably contributed more to making Pakistan and Pakistanis face up to their own internal problems and for the moment at least, try to act like a democracy though frankly, how long will that last, I wonder ?

But the reality is probably that it would not matter one iota to some idiot in Bradford or Luton, whether British troops were engaged or not. Not being a Muslim Country and part of the “New Caliphate” would be sufficient reason for further 7/7 incidents from “wannabe martyrs” who are living boring lives.

So, Who’s Problem ?

Well, if we step back a few paces, likely not ours. In fact the US deployed some 20,000 troops under Operation “Enduring Freedom” to hunt down Osama Bin Laden under a “Must be seen to be Doing Some thing” following 9/11. The reality is that Afghanistan itself isn’t the problem to us, although it may well be a major problem to neighbouring States such as Pakistan, Iran and Russia, especially through drug running, let them deal with it both at their borders and internally via the crime and corruption it generates for them.

The realistic question is surely: “Why should we police their problems ?” when clearly, they lack the courage to do so for themselves. The answer is that we (NATO, the USA), can just walk away and let them live with it plus pay for it, it is no longer our problem.

Afghanistan is Hopeless

Dr.Liam Fox the Conservative Secretary for Defence and however ‘offensive’ his remarks may have seemed (and politically naïve), was quite right in describing Afghanistan as a 13^th Century Country, it is and frankly, doesn’t have a prayer of ever being anything else.

Our American Cousins whilst genuine, have always been totally naïve over the very concepts behind ‘Democracy’: It is much more than one person , one vote. It is about established Institutions that people already believe in and trust. It is upon this that the necessary checks and balances to power and the ability to deny total power to any individual must be based. It is about ‘due process’ and a system of Law and Governance that creates the very framework and structures within which democracy can flourish.

The USA is a great Country and wholly optimistic but it’s failure to comprehend the real nature of democracy stems from the fact that when writing the American Constitution, those people of British stock were able to call upon the evolved forms of governance and institutions that had taken hundreds of years to evolve in these misty islands. Like a child growing up used to foreign holidays abroad each year (provided by its parents), it never got to appreciate foreign holidays.

The problem is that Afghanistan has more in common with most African States where nepotism, bribery and corruption thrive happily than any Western Country today, democracy is unlikely to have even the remotest chance of taking root there this side of the End of the World.

If that is true, why stay ?