Why is it that under the most stringent cut backs in military spending that politicians keep coming up with pledges to send in the troops if necessary to places we have no business being?
Telegraph.Britain could send military reinforcements to the Gulf if the dispute with Iran escalates, according to Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary.Yes I know Iran has nuclear ambitions, yes I know they could make a real nuisance of themselves in the Straits of Hormuz if they wanted too, but frankly the amount of ships we could send compared to the Americans is minuscule and would be much better deployed elsewhere say like the Falklands or off the coast of Somalia hanging pirates from the yardarm.
He said the decision to send HMS Argyll as part of an international flotilla of warships through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz on Sunday sent a "clear signal" to Tehran.
The deployment defied explicit Iranian threats to close the waterway. It coincided with an escalation in the West's confrontation with Iran over the country's nuclear ambitions.
Iran has threatened to close the strait – through which 35 per cent of the world's tanker-borne oil exports pass – in retaliation for sanctions against its oil exports.
The EU agreed an oil embargo on Monday against Iran as part of sanctions over its nuclear programme.
The measures include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products while existing ones are allowed to run until July.
Our armed forces have been gutted by the politicians in Westminster in both this government and the last and quite frankly it's time we brought them home and had a major rethink in just what it is we want to do with them vis home defence and force projection. Should we have them out in Afghanistan keeping the peace or should we simply leave that place to go back to barbarism again with occasional flattening of terrorist camps as and when we find them by cruise missiles, after all, it would be far more easier simply to declare the place a no go zone and allow India to deal with the Pakistani problem.
Our troops and navy should only be where they are wanted keeping an eye on aggressors to us, yes Iran is a problem, but it's a problem easily solved by simply funding its enemies right on its door, not by sending warships into restricted waters. Same with Afghanistan, simply play the tribes off against each other and fund them to attack Pakistan and Iran.
We could and still will need a professional and reasonably large set of armed forces, but we need them closer to home or in areas where we have obligations, the Middle East and Afghanistan don't count for either of those criteria.
4 annotations:
Ah, QM, there's the rub! You highlight yet another reason why direct democracy is now a 'must have'!
As ever, nice article! Apols for not commenting as much as I should.
I`ve long thought that the way to deal with Iran is to let them know quite plainly in advance that any kind of nuclear or radiological attack on any other country will result in a massive and utterly devastating nuclear response,non of this surgical targeted nonsense but all of their major cities simply wiped out.
Big boys toys? Big boys rules.
Andy, do you imagine they are in any doubt of that?
Really? Tel Aviv goes up in ashes and meanwhile the Israeli cabinet in a bunker somewhere wonders what to do next whilst their nuclear subs are unmolested?
Assuming of course the enrichment reaches the 95% threshold for an a-bomb not the c.5% for power which even the Yanks concede that's all they are doing.
Indeed,but if the Iranian people really get to understand the gamble the Iranian leadership is taking with their(The peoples)lives then internal opposition may do the job for us.
Tho it seems to me the Israeli`s are already taking the wisest course with targeted killings of their scientists while still being able to deny everything.
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