Friday, July 30, 2010

A MAN of NO Importance - Lord Prescott

Guardian: Has a review of Lord Prescott at the Iraq Inquiry, it seems even the left Guardian has a low view of the importance of Lord Prescott when it comes to the Cabinet either supporting the War or not, when Lord Prescott was asked if he could move the Cabinet he told the Inquiry that he in essence didn’t have the political power of being DPM. It seems that Prescott didn’t think much of the intelligence against Iraq and he didn’t think he had the power in the Cabinet, well there was one way to show power, that was to resign, it seems that Prescott was just window dressing for what ever sofa plan that Tony Blair dreamed up with Bush 43.

The HISTORIC UK Coalition - The Deals

Telegraph: Reviews yesterdays BBC documentary on the formation of the UK Coalition Government in May. It was a interesting programme, the only missing person was the dour Gordon Brown, but then having Gordon as Gordon might have sent the viewing figures down. Lord Peter Mandelson did his usual of putting the knife in to former UK PM Gordon Brown, Mandelson confirms the old saying, the last man standing is the winner! Brown seems to be in self exile in Scotland with the odd visit down to his place of paid employment, its got green benches, just in case Gordon Brown has missed the point of his election as an MP. The one aspect that was missing was the fact that leading Labour MPs made it clear that Labour had lost and they in essence should make way for a new government, this was a odd exception to a great show, this was worth the cost of the licence that the UK voters pay for the BBC.

Dale on Prescott

Iain Dale: One of the UK’s leading political blog writers reviews Lord Prescott at the Iraq Inquiry, “ He seemed almost detached from the decision to go to war, almost as if he felt that he ought to leave it to his intellectual superiors - which was very unlike him. ” If you read the Campbell Diaries you get the impression that the main complaint from then Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and future Deputy PM Lord Prescott is the fact that he was left out of discussions, he was bought in to keep the Labour Party happy not for sage advice on the weighty matters of War and Peace. In essence Lord Prescott was window dressing for New Labour, he kept the great unwashed, in other words Labour MPs and members from interfering in the policy aims of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell.

Worst MONTH for US in Afghanistan since 2001

BBC News: Reports that the US has had its worse month in Afghanistan since the War started in 2001, the US lost 63 of its Armed Forces Personnel in July alone. As President Obama places more troops in to Afghanistan as LBJ did in Vietnam the level of body bags will go up, as more troops thus more targets for the Taliban. It can be postulated that when it comes to next year the planned troop withdrawal will be small or none at all, Afghanistan has become Obama’s War.

Operation TOR SHEZADA - Black Prince

MOD: Reports on the successor operation to Operation MOSHTARAK in Helmand Province Afghanistan, the MOD states Operation TOR SHEZADA will clear the insurgents from “ Sayedabad to the south of Nad 'Ali in Helmand province ”. The aim of the operation will be to clear and hold the area and prevent the Taliban / Al Qaeda coming back and mounting attack operations against NATO Forces. The question that the Taliban will ask should they fight or just walk away, the Obama and Cameron remarks on timetables for getting out of Afghanistan is a good a reason as another for the Taliban to keep their powder dry, it can be postulated that that Taliban could just wait out the US and UK forces, as Operation Moshtrarak has shown the Taliban have returned to Marjah, its not easy to tell the Taliban apart from innocent civilisations, thus lets see what the Taliban do, in Marjah they just walked away and came back when it suited them, that is why Afghanistan is a lot like Vietnam and why Obama is the next LBJ not Reagan.