Aims of the war:
  • To fix a country which has been "broken" for over 500 years, possibly never functioned.
  • To get those that caused 9/11... and avoid Saudi Arabia and that most were Saudis.
  • To increase safety and try to forget that 7/7 was mainly due to protests about the wars.
  • Get Bin Laden as if this will suddenly "win" the conflict


Methods:

  • Boots on the ground! Not as many as the commanders want, but surely quality overcomes quantity?
  • Not enough helicopters - we'll borrow them when needed
  • Inadequate vehicles. We're getting new ones that have thicker armour. Fingers crossed they'll not build bigger bombs...
  • Winning hearts and minds by building infrastructure, and
  • ... by spraying crops, drone attacks and apologies for killing civilians
  • An American led, mainly Christian white leaning force in a Middle Eastern / Islamic state - but NOT a Crusade, OK?
  • Capture, hold, build, media take pictures with smiling locals, leave, Taliban bomb. Repeat until budget runs out.


So, as can be seen, we are not aiming to return to a previous state, but trying to build one. We have no clear idea of how to do this and don't have enough men to achieve it - if we knew what "it" was.
I realise the cost in human life is compared to most wars is low. However, the ratio of injured to killed is probably higher than ever.

But lives are being lost in a country with no strategic value as is a vast amount of money. Fanatics all over the world are having a causus belli.

If the vast resources (or even a fraction thereof) which are being squandered were used for containment we'd be just as safe. There are still nutters with plans to blow up parts of the UK, so the war isn't stopping this.

Another war that the UK in very different times went into with the phrase "We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too!"

To update: "we've not the ships, we've not the men and no money too!"

The UK needs to emulate countries such as Australia who are used to not being a big fish, and structure our ambitions and armed forces accordingly.

Our "special relationship" started in WW2 when America bankrupted us. Apparently to continue it we need to continue to throw money and lives at whatever moronic war they embark on.