There was little new in this morning’s speeches on Afghanistan from Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. For two leaders normally so divided and savage about the competence of the other, they form a unity ticket on this deeply unpopular conflict that most Australians want to abandon.
The Prime Minister, indeed, flagged that we may need to increase our forces there in the lead-up to handover. “It is likely that we will identify the need for some additional personnel and resources to complete those final phases of practical extraction and repatriation,” she told Parliament.
The PM also, appropriately, devoted part of her discussion to the needs of veterans:
“The next decade will see more young Australian combat veterans live in our community than since the 1970s. This is demanding changes in the way the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs care for service personnel and veterans.”
The costs of our decade-plus involvement in Afghanistan, a war marred by profound strategic misjudgements from the Bush administration and its allies in London and Canberra, will remain with us for decades to come. But for our veterans, those costs are ones governments should readily and generously bear in recognition of the sacrifice and risk each of our soldiers has taken in service to his or her country.
Reorienting our veteran support services to the new challenge of young, working-age returned servicemen and women should be a key priority for the government. These veterans will bear the costs of their service for the rest of their lives; the taxpayer should be unstinting in supporting them.
“The costs of our decade-plus involvement in Afghanistan, a war marred by profound strategic misjudgements from the Bush administration and its allies in London and Canberra, will remain with us for decades to come.” Not to mention it is an illegal war, justified on the basis of a colossal lie (9/11), and fought for reasons that has everything to do with the geopolitical ambitions of the Americans and nothing to do with Australia’s best interests.
Isn’t it long past time to recognise this escapade in international lawlessness for what it really is. Obama has negotiated a deal with Karzai that will keep US troops and their mercenary allies in Afghanistan until 2024. Gillard has already made some softening up noises about “special forces” staying past the ridiculous arbitrary deadline of 2014 and this morning’s comments do nothing to dissuade one from that point of view.
Fake concern for the welfare of the troops is as nauseating as her and Abbott’s appearances at soldier’s funerals. The mainstream media are a lost cause as far as the truth about Afghanistan is concerned. Crikey ought to show it has a better role to play.
I suggest rephrasing ‘ . . . each of our soldiers has taken in service to his or her country’. ‘Their’ is accepted as a singular personal pronoun so the phrase should be rephrased as ‘ . . . each of our soldiers has taken in service to their country’.
However, if the author rejects that, the phrase should put the personal pronouns in alphabetical order: ‘ . . . each of our soldiers has taken in service to her or his country’.