Panorama Mission Accomplished? Secrets of Helmand

[Wanderer]

Just watched that... Probably on iPlayer soon. News story with a short clip is here.

The full program contains some seriously depressing stuff. Police openly growing and smoking marijuana, off their heads after shooting up heroin, firing their guns randomly, selling the fortified defences for scrap metal, kidnapping, extortion, sexually abusing children (and shooting them when they try to escape).

As with Iraq, you have to wonder if the country has become a better place since we sent troops in there to kill, and be killed.

[minestrone]

Well if they don't like Afghanistan they can always come over here and get a free house.

[mudskipper]

It was truly depressing, and makes you question if there is such a thing as basic human decency or if that's a luxury that comes with an affluent western lifestyle.

[Troll]

Well if they don't like Afghanistan they can always come over here and get a free house.

Don't they have to hijack an airliner and fly it halfway around the world first?

[SupremeSpod]

It was truly depressing, and makes you question if there is such a thing as basic human decency or if that's a luxury that comes with an affluent western lifestyle.

Nail, right on the head!

[SimonMac]

So we go to war, rightly or wrongly, and once the fighting has finished the UK Public demand that the troops come home before the reconstruction of the country's main infrastructure is complete, and then complain that only half a job was done.

The job doesn't stop when the fighting does.

[DodgyAgent]

Complete & utter waste of human life.

As brought to you by feckwhits* who don't know their history.



*BLiar & the feckwhit in chief, Bush.

So are you saying that Iraq and Afghanistan would have been far better places to live that they are now? And are you also saying that the world would be a much safer place had there been no intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan

It is all too simple to brand Bush and Blair as war criminals. It is certainly hip and cool and "caring" to hold this view - apparently but it is sheer cowardice to lay alll the blame at their door.

[sasguru]

So we go to war, rightly or wrongly, and once the fighting has finished the UK Public demand that the troops come home before the reconstruction of the country's main infrastructure is complete, and then complain that only half a job was done.

The job doesn't stop when the fighting does.

It's a bit naive to assume that we could ever "fix" Afghanistan, even if we had the resources which we don't.
To fix it would involve changing the mindset/mentality, not the infrastructure, which is nigh on impossible.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Taliban came back to power, since they have a semblance of organisation as opposed to the traditional clan warlords who simply fight each other.

[sasguru]

So are you saying that Iraq and Afghanistan would have been far better places to live that they are now? And are you also saying that the world would be a much safer place had there been no intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan
.

Certainly Iraq was no threat to us.

[Platypus]

The full program contains some seriously depressing stuff. Police openly growing and smoking marijuana, off their heads after shooting up heroin, firing their guns randomly, selling the fortified defences for scrap metal, kidnapping, extortion, sexually abusing children (and shooting them when they try to escape).

Thank goodness that the Koran lays down strict moral codes