Corbyn.....

[tut]

Sorry Pete, every search will give you the same result.

"We are agreed that the first duty of government is to safeguard our national security and support our troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere – and we will fulfil that duty." - David Cameron and Nick Clegg in their foreword to the Coalition's programme for government."

tut

[graeme]

That sentence was cleverly constructed to imply that the presence of our troops in Afghanistan is somehow related to safeguarding our national security.

[pete]

Sorry Pete, every search will give you the same result.

"We are agreed that the first duty of government is to safeguard our national security and support our troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere – and we will fulfil that duty." - David Cameron and Nick Clegg in their foreword to the Coalition's programme for government."

tut

I don't think that just because Cameron and Clegg said it was so meant it was so.

I have a memory of once reading that Lloyd George (who knew my father) had a falling out with the military in WW1 when he saw his duty after being elected PM as being different to theirs. They wanted to win a war, he wanted to protect his citizens. That is not necessarily the same thing. You could even argue that there are certain periods in history where a Government would have served it's people a lot better if it had remembered that.
There's maybe a proportion of a few million mothers who would have thought it much better than to lose to Germany (in WW1) than lose a son...

Finally, adding to what graeme said, that first phrase "safeguard our national security" - well I would argue that our national security is sometimes served best by not fighting wars, I don't think (for example) that many would argue anymore that the Iraq war made us safer or more secure. And certainly fewer people believe it now than before it started.

[Gareth]

You're all mistaken and forgotten one thing....

Skynet.

Anyway, what do I care. I'm on holiday but...I'll be back!