I can neither condone nor condemn, I was not there and it was a war zone once upon a time.

Truly alarming.

Thanks Richard.

Having seen the ability of the Army in Afghanistan to go back to the tactics of Beau Geste, really one shouldn't be surprised by this and why is it that whenever I hear the name Mike Jackson I check my pockets?

I recall as a young trainee officer sitting through an excellent documentary on Operation Goodwood, which pointed to the highly innovative use of second hand material by the Germans and their flexibility in defence. There was a clear inference that in some ways the British Army had become heirs to this German tradition.

This is something I have never found to be true and was most apparent in those starting their career in Sandhurst - with amusingly (?) the vast majority with cloned hairstyles. The problem it seems to me is exactly that organisational group-think you identify - starting with the tendency to recruit people like oneself.

I wonder how many recognise that it's time to resurrect Haldane.

Edited by user 21 December 2012 15:41:28(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

This is analysis that we need. If the UK armed services lack the courage to face up to problems like these then we have indeed slipped down another notch.

As for the idea that you have to 'be there' to understand that's simply wrong. The late Patrick Moore was an expert on the moon, but never went once!

I see the post also contains a reference to the BBC. The list of organisations reliant on public money but arguably not fit for purpose grows ever longer.

Finally I'm bound to go back to the discussion of the other day about the army helping out the police. These two organisations are like apples and pears, just so different. The one cannot help the other.

And it's no good saying it was a war and bad things happen so let's brush it under the carpet. The Medical Practitioners panel had a duty to get rid of Derek Keilloh. We can do without him, just like Freddy Patel.

Gunboat diplomacy !
Eli Wallach ( one of the truly greats ) said in "The good,Bad and Ugly" If you are going to shoot, shoot, don't talk about it!
Would not the problems of the Muslim world be nonexistent if there was a super power with a "big stick " instead of as we have now a combination of "ineffectual idiots, and founding members of I graduated in STUPID ?
What sense is it if you go to fight a war with kiddy gloves ? Go in and get out without any loss to the good guys just as quickly as possible. None of these groups/governments would be a problem on the world stage if the populations of said country new that when the man arrived with the big stick what was a village/town/city would be just a very big hole in the ground.
Today we have the Muslims, as I write this, somewhere in the world killing dozens of
"innocent children" in the name of THEIR God because they just happen to go to the wrong mosque, how long would the mullah who preached death and destruction last if his listeners new that they were going to be with the other 5-6 hundred million at gods side ( how big is the Muslim heaven anyway ?) better the mullah than you whole family ?
One thing that the Germans got right in the second world war was in Italy, If you kill one of ours we will kill 20 of yours, after a few demonstrations, no more dead German soldiers killed by the Partisans, it is difficult to kill someone if you realize that half your village is going to die, ( the beginning of stupid )

While the idea of collective punishment, of the non-combatants and combatants alike, might feel satisfying, I'd say that it is just not acceptable. islam demands of its followers that if one dhimmi steps out of line, then all the other non-muslims (usually Christians and Jews) must be punished; ie killed. That is barbarism and we shouldn't follow that path, not least because it could be argued that it helps to legitimise islam and all the other thuggish organisations around the world.