Gordon Brown not fit to be prime minister

There is only one conclusion to draw from Gordon Brown's speech on 6 November 2009. Either he is deliberately misleading the British people or else he is so badly informed about Afghanistan that he isn’t fit to be a prime minister sending soldiers to kill and be killed in a foreign country.

Cartoon by Steve Bell

He must know that that al-Qaeda doesn’t exist in Afghanistan and after the foreign occupation ends no Afghan government is going to tolerate any al-Qaeda presence in the country for fear of being devastated by a US attack.

He must know that the longer the occupation of Afghanistan has continued the less secure the country has become, with ever rising numbers of Afghan civilians and British soldiers being killed.

He must know that the longer the occupation has continued the more control the Taliban and other forces opposing the invading armies have taken of the country, with over 50 percent of Afghanistan now said to be dominated by resistance forces.

He must know that the strategy of building up the Afghan army and police to a level that will enable Afghans to replace British soldiers is doomed to failure.

He must know that 60 percent of the current police force are heroin addicts, because his own military have told him, and the idea that they can be trained to “protect” the Afghan people is laughable, given that police corruption is so endemic that the last thing Afghans want is police anywhere near their communities.

He must know that the Afghan army’s defining characteristic is that it is missing in action, with most recruits regarding it as casual labour which can provide them with clothing, food and a salary temporarily, before they decide that being asked to kill fellow Afghans resisting occupation is too high a price to pay.

And, he must know, after eight years of supporting one of the most corrupt governments in the world – and following the comically fraudulent “re-election” of its president -- that the last person who is going to bring good “governance” to Afghanistan is Hamid Karzai.

Why is it that 57 percent of the British people know this war is unwinnable and Gordon Brown doesn’t?

Why is it that Gordon Brown, so quick to talk of “democracy” when it suits him, will not heed the 73 percent majority in this country who say all British troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan within a year?

The only conclusion must be that he is placing his own reputation above the needs of the country, for fear of having to admit the futility of all the lives lost and devastation caused by his war policies.