Good Intentions?

The UK Coalition government are desperate to save the pennies.

We all know why - Mainly because Gordon Brown and the Labour Party did the political equivalent of getting a terminal diagnosis and then going on a credit card spending spree.

Unfortunately they didn't have insurance...

Now we are all going to have to pay for it - In a way it is fair enough - as collectively we enabled them to do it to us by voting for them... Oh except we never did vote in Gordon did we? But yes we did vote in Labour.

"Not in my name" - as they say.

So the Coalition are scrabbling around for Ideas - and I am prepared to believe for the moment they at least have good intentions - but some of the stuff they come up with seems just stupid or suicidally desperate - and we all know what the road to hell is reputedly paved with...

Firstly, why on earth are they ring fencing foreign bribes.. er aid.

They are planning on blowing some £7.8 billion on it this year. This is a huge amount - and charity, as they say, begins at home. Anything that is not a strategic policy aimed at propping up friendly states, or ensuring terrorism is suppressed should be cut to the bone.

What are they planning at the same time? Oh yes. To damage our armed forces and nuclear deterrent while we are fighting what amounts to two wars.

Reward those who are willing to defend the big society with their lives by making them unemployed!?

Wake up and smell the coffee people.

Drudge report risks coalition trops lives in Afganistan

The fact that Prince Harry has been serving with the UK’s armed forces in Helmand Province has been blown by the Drudge Report.

The fact is that he - and the troops he leads can only function effectively, at normal risk levels if he remains anonymous. Without that, the risk escalates astronomically.

So what is the difference between an enemy spy and Matt Drudge?

I am not sure what else you could call it - making sensitive military information available to enemy forces via the internet.

Information that affects the security of operations and could cost lives. It’s not as if there is even an overriding moral factor that might justify it. He knew it was going to be widely known once it was safe to release the information, but it was time sensitive.

He knew that, but apparently disregarded it, just to get a grubby scoop. But this isn’t really politics, or scandal, this is brave, mostly ordinary, people with integrity just trying to do a difficult and dangerous job.

At the very least it is dangerously irresponsible and done with little concern as to the possible ramifications, or the welfare of others.

So - The difference? Well Drudge makes a profit out of it, rather than doing it for merely ideological reasons.

He is reputed to be doing very nicely out of it, owning a luxurious Mediterranean-style home on Rivo Alto Island in Florida's Biscayne Bay, a condo at the Four Seasons in Miami and reportedly drives around in a black Mustang.

It is the way of the world that he will probably continue to enjoy them - and is unlikely to suffer any doubts, or be bothered by the consequences to others, such as troops who are just trying to do their jobs in difficult circumstances.

Taliban use kids as weapons and camoflage

The Taliban are reportedly using children, as weapons and camouflage - How low can they go?

Apparently a Taliban video surfaced in April capturing terrorists instructing a boy of about 12, as he beheaded a person, with a large knife.

Taliban fighters are also reported as increasingly adopting the strategies of the insurgents in Iraq, who are known to use children to disguise vehicle-bombs.

Now it seems despicable Taliban 'militants' have attempted to dupe a six year old Afghan boy, Juma Gul, into becoming an unwitting suicide bomber. They made him put on a bomb vest telling him it would spray out flowers if he pressed a button.

They instructed him when he saw American soldiers to: "throw your body at them".

Juma said: "When they first put the vest on my body I didn't know what to think, but then I felt the bomb” “After I figured out it was a bomb, I went to the Afghan soldiers for help."

He asked them: ”Hey, can you help me? Somebody gave me this jacket and I don't know what's inside but maybe something bad'. Afghan police state the vest was destroyed after removal.

No matter what your views on the conflict, this foul strategy, clearly intentionally, puts allied soldiers throughout the region in a terrible position.

It is specifically designed to make matters so very much worse in a truly evil way.

Keep this in mind next time your hear of a civilian shot at a road block, or during a patrol, because it may well be one of the considerations that influenced their decision to shoot, in the few moments they had to make their minds up.