Britain’s Socialist Government has been thrown into a tailspin with the resignation of the Permanent Private Secretary of Defence. I guess nothing is that permanent and it seems Mr Eric Joyce, MP, is sick of having to tell lies, damned lies and deadly lies all day long.
He has a lot to say in the brief essay that is his letter (see below) of resignation but it does not bode well for next years’s killing season in sunny, poppy-dusty Afghanistan. Someone ain’t pulling their weight and it ain’t the Brits, who have been doing a great job even without water ski-ing and polo games availability. Well, no more spin, he reckons, and is off to more pressing matters elsewhere and perhaps a job where he need only lie after tea.
Forked tongues have a use-by date.
Eric Joyce Resignation Letter in Full
 Gordon Brown MP
10 Downing Street
LONDON
3 September 2009
Gordon
 Blah de blah de blah…..
 We are now, I think, once again at a critical time for Labour and Defence. The Conservatives, of course opportunistically, think they can convince the public that we have lost our empathy with the Defence community. We must not allow this to happen. I know that you have great commitment to our armed forces and this was clear when you visited Afghanistan this week, yet there seem to me to be some problems which need fixing with the greatest urgency.
As you know, two Black Watch soldiers gave their lives during your visit. I do not think the public will accept for much longer that our losses can be justified by simply referring to the risk of greater terrorism on our streets. Nor do I think we can continue with the present level of uncertainty about the future of our deployment in Afghanistan.
I think we must be much more direct about the reality that we do punch a long way above our weight, that many of our allies do far too little, and that leaving the field to the United States would mean the end of NATO as a meaningful proposition. The British people have a proud history of facing such realities. They understand the importance of the allied effort in Afghanistan/Pakistan and I think they would appreciate more direct approach by politicians. We also need to make it clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is high but time limited. It should be possible now to say that we will move off our present war-footing and reduce our forces there substantially during our next term in government.
We also need a greater geopolitical return from the United States for our efforts. For many, Britain fights; Germany pays, France calculates; Italy avoids. If the United States values each of these approaches equally, they will end up shouldering the burden by themselves. The first place to start is an acceptance this week by them, and by the Afghanistan electoral authorities, that there must be a second round in the elections there. I do not think the British people will support the physical risk to our servicemen and women unless they can be given confidence that Afghanistan’s government has been properly elected and has a clear intent to deal with the corruption there which has continued unabated in recent years.
Most important of all, we must make it clear to every serviceman and woman, their families and the British public that we give their well-being the highest political priority. Behind-the-hand attacks by any Labour figure on senior service personnel are now, to the public, indistinguishable from attacks on the services themselves. Conversely, in my view we should allow our service personnel greater latitude to voice their views on matters which make distinctions between defence and politics pointless.
More blah de blah……
Full letter at -  order-order.com/
