The UK Libertarian

The BBC Reports:

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said mid-2011 should be the deadline for “turning the tide” in the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan.

Now I’m a cynical guy, but even I thought “Turning the tide” was just a euphemism and that it stood for something concrete, some real, tangible promise (that he could then break next year). But no. There is absolutely no mention of what “turning the tide” means. It is nebulous, ungraspable, political doublespeak. Not only is there no definition of what “turning the tide” means, there is also no explanation of what will happen if they don’t “turn the tide”.

This statement was thrown up out of Gordon “Everything I say is wrong” Brown’s mouth at the “Afghanistan Summit” held in London. 70 other nations attended. The real reason for these summits is not to try to solve the problems of Afghanistan. It is not to try to get British soldiers home as soon as possible in an attempt to save lives and lessen the effects of the recession. No sir, no, no, no. This is my theory of what the summit’s real objective is:

The summit is held as a way for politicians and their military buddies to think up new ways to continue to justify a massive transfer of wealth from the productive sector to the war sector.

They don’t care about you, or what you think. Really.

Gordon Brown again:

For today this conference shows that the People of the world speak as one; united and resolute we will win the fight against global terrorism; united in supporting the government of Afghanistan to deliver peace and security to its people

I mean the video clip on the article was barely a minute long and look at the kind of wrong he can fit in, in just that amount of time:

1. It doesn’t show that the people of the world speak as one. It doesn’t even show that a majority of people agree. It shows that some government leaders agree.
2. It doesn’t show that the “[governments] of the world speak as one” because only 70 countries were at the summit
3. In the history of man-kind nobody has ever won a fight against terrorism. Whether they are “resolute” or not. Why? Because you can’t win a “fight” against a tactic. Jesus Christ.
4. It’s not Global Terrorism. It’s terrorism by some, against some others, for specified reasons.
5. We’re not bringing peace and security to Afghanistan. In fact you can go back through the BBC archives and find similar speeches to this one given every year, for the past ten years, and each year, surprise surprise, nothing has got better, but spending (and often violence) has gone up.
6. The “Government of Afghanistan” is a propped up buddy of ours. The “people” of Afghanistan are not one person. Some of the “people” of Afghanistan bitterly oppose the current government. Some don’t care either way, and plenty are just dead because of us. To refer to them as a single group is almost as collectivist as saying “The People of the world speak as one”

So, what concrete steps is Mr. Brown taking to help encourage peace, an end to war, and ultimately a sovereign Afghanistan, free to sort out its own problems without the “help” of 70 f**king countries? Well this of course:

Pledging support for the expansion of the Afghan security forces, Mr Brown said: “We will agree today that the Afghan National Army will number 134,000 by October 2010, and 171,600 by October 2011.

“And similarly today we will commit to supporting a police reform plan, with Afghan national police numbers reaching 109,000 by October this year, and 134,000 by October 2011.”

And how exactly will a poor, third world country in the middle of civil-war and bloody occupation afford to pay these people?

Before the talks began, President Hamid Karzai said Afghanistan could need foreign support for its security forces for up to 15 years.

Hallelujah!