Human Rights Act Will Hamper Soldiers In Action, Warns MoD

Soldiers will have the protection of human rights laws if the
judge rules against the MoD tomorrow. PA

From The Independent:

Split-second decisions could be compromised by a ruling on the risks faced by frontline troops.

The Ministry of Defence is bracing itself for defeat with a landmark court ruling tomorrow on whether Britain's soldiers, sailors and airmen should be protected under the Human Rights Act while they serve abroad.

If the judgment from one of the UK's most senior judges goes against the MoD, as some defence chiefs fear, it could force it to take greater care of troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read more ....

My Comment: With rulings like this, I can just see every dead British soldier rolling around in his grave.

Britain's Armed Forces -- Losing Their Way?

From The Economist:

The British army suffers from lack of soldiers, lack of money and lack of conviction.

SOME marched smartly down the high streets of garrison towns, to cheers from bystanders waving union flags. Some, wounded, stood uneasily on crutches to receive decorations in their parade squares. Many went to church to give thanks for their safe return and remember fallen friends. For the men and women of 16 Air Assault brigade, returning from their latest tour in Afghanistan, the past months have been a homecoming like few others. There will be more cheers this summer when British troops come back from Iraq for good. On June 27th Britain will begin to mark a new Armed Forces Day.

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My Comment: I do not envy the soldiers in the British military. Lack of soldiers, money, resources .... doing a job that does not pay well and gives little if any satisfaction. Thank God that we still have men and women who are willing to serve. They have not lost their way .... it is the political establishment and their supporters who have lost their way.

The 300 British Dead In Afghanistan And Iraq

Photo from the BBC

From The Telegraph:

The grim milestone of 300 British dead on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan was reached yesterday when two Royal Marines were killed in an explosion.

300 dead, Afghanistan and Iraq, Royal Marines, Helmand, bomb, Jackal

After seven years of campaigning the British have now lost 176 dead in Iraq and 124 in Afghanistan.

The news comes at a time when a poll for the BBC showed that 68 per cent of the public apparently want to see British troops withdrawn from Afghanistan within a year.

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My Comment: The debate on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will continue for a very long time ....

Military Intelligence Cuts For The U.K.

British soldiers in action against the Taliban during operations in Kajaki
(Photo from The Telegraph)

Military Intelligence Cuts Risk UK's National Security,
Document Shows -- The Telegraph

The military's intelligence service is facing severe cuts that will reduce its ability to foresee future threats to national security and dangers to British forces abroad, a confidential Whitehall document shows.

British analysis of Russia's military capabilities and activities will be reduced as the Ministry of Defence slashes the size and budget of the Defence Intelligence Staff, a senior officer has warned.

The agency is losing more than one in five of its Whitehall staff and having its budget cut by nearly £7 million as the Ministry of Defence cuts costs.

The Daily Telegraph has seen an MoD document showing that the cuts will have serious consequences for Britain's ability to anticipate and react to future security threats.

The DIS analyses foreign countries' military capabilities, monitoring both conventional weapons like aircraft and missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons proliferation.

The paper says: "Implementation of Streamlining risks disrupting the DIS' ability to provide strategic warning of security threats to the UK and UK interests worldwide and, specifically, where UK military forces might be employed. Threats may not be foreseen, or not identified in a timely manner, by analytical teams thinned through Streamlining."

Read more ....

My Comment: If I was a foreign power that wanted to do harm to the defense of the U.K. .... I would just support the establishment that runs Great Britain. They are doing an excellent job all by themselves.