sense and insensibility!

I wrote to my local M.P. on a subject which has concerned many people in this country, namely the standard and quality of the armoured transport used by the British Army in Afghanistan and iraq, as opposed to our allies in those two conflicts.

As you can read, I commenced with an insulting but true comment upon her immediate boss in parliament , the moronic Des Browne, and went on to query the selection of vehicles for the British as opposed to the Americans, Canadians etc..

In her reply, which I have scanned in and posted immediately below my own letter text, she parrots the ‘Party’ line in praising the Land Rover Defenders, used some twenty years ago in Belfast, which in truth didn’t have too many suicide bombers around;  WIMIKs (which for the uninitiated spelled out means Mobility Weapons Mounted Installation Kit Army patrol Vehicle), Panthers, Warrior Infantry fighting Vehicles, ( very recently mentioned, but not in praise, by a British coroner) and the ace-in-the-pack, the Pinzgauer, which I recall was not only dubbed a ‘coffin’, but a ‘very expensive coffin’!

She then goes on to parrot the same old line about how Defence Equipment Suport works to provide highly capable equipment for our fighting soldiers, and how thousands of British jobs are sustained by the purchase of truly faulty material, whilst not even bothering to mention the truth about the deep and savage cuts made to both present and future Defence Budgets by her colleagues in the Treasury, acting on behalf on the new ‘Man for all Seasonings (pepper, spice, bullshit), Gordon of the Brownings.

When this bloody woman was at a public meeting before the last General Election, I mentioned at the time that I thought she was a true Cloned Blair babe, and I haven’t been proved wrong yet. The party line first, second and always seems to be her motto, much as the moronic fools who believed that the Russian Communist Party were the only ones interested in ‘world peace’. Well I have to admit that they did believe in a ‘peace’, but one which would occur after they had conquered everyone else.

Who’d be a British Soldier, especially when you are led by people like this?

Dear Roberta Blackman-Woods,

As the P.P.S. for the part-time Defence Secretary Des Browne, I was
wondering if you would care to comment upon the differing attitudes
towards essential equipment between the Americans and the British Crown
forces operating under the N.A.T.O. umbrella in Afghanistan, and in
Iraq.

Whilst the Americans have learnt the hard lessons of the past, and
equip their soldiers with the best, namely Rg-31's, Huskies, Buffalos
and armoured Humvees, which is in reality a column of armoured and
armed vehicles, equipped and capable of fighting their way out of
trouble, the British rely, by choice of the ludicrously ill-informed
M.o.D. in whitehall, on a mixture of Pinzgauers, (also known as mobile
coffins) Snatch-Land-rovers and WIMIKs.

The decisions by the Americans are based upon action and re-action,
with troop protection a priority. The British response, from your boss
downwards, seem to be based upon a political decision-making process
which is totally devoid of operational reality.

In concluding, I would enquire if you would wish to comment upon the
stated hopes of one of the many Defence Secretaries, one John Reid,
when he aspired to British forces leaving Afghanistan "without a shot
being fired"?

Yours sincerely,

Mike Cunningham

 
m p letter

Comments

[Dawkins]

Mike,

Might have been better to urge her to push for a withdrawal of the troops. After all, most Britons don't want them there.

Isn't democracy all about heeding the voice of the people?

[bernard]

On that point you're right, Dawkins.

Never forget, 'The Wisdom of the Crowd'.

[Dawkins]

Bernard,

So what's your definition of democracy?

[Ernest Young]

"Never forget, 'The Wisdom of the Crowd'."

nor -

"the Howling of the Mob"

[aoife]

I'm going to write to my MP to complain about how little protection mud huts give Afghan families and wedding parties when they're attacked by fighter-bombers. Don't expect much will come of it, though.

[Dawkins]

Aoife,

Way to go.

[bernard]

That's a tall order Dawkins!

But this chap has a crack at it, and makes some thoughtful additions on the practical meaning of the term:

http://www.new-model-democracy.blog.co.uk/

[Dawkins]

Bernard,

Is this what you meant?

"Democracy is not a system of voting, or government or even representation; it is not a system at all but a state. In other words, society will exist under varying degrees of democracy or tyranny dependant on whether executive power is passed UP to the governing body or DOWN from the governing body."

... "Authority is being handed down by government to local individuals who, in turn, dictate the rules. This is the opposite of a model democracy and is therefore, unacceptable."

Took my a while to find it. Yes, that's a pretty good definition.