Macho Jacko

I heard General Sir Michael Jackson speak at lunchtime about the role of the army. His speech was broadly as follows. The end of the Cold War and 9/11 were extraordinary events which changed people's perception of our defence force. Holding terrain is less important than it used to be: it's more a battle of ideas although energy sources are potential areas of conflict. Winning the war is now about preventing unlawful violence from disrupting the life of the majority of law-abiding citizens. NATO has a long-term strategic interest to be in Afghanistan, at the request of the Afghan Government, to keep out the Taliban. It is only natural that problems are surfacing in Iraq: the same happened in Kosovo after the lid of the pressure cooker was removed. Military resources are tight. The defence budget at 2% of GDP is the lowest since the 1930s and he was very disappointed that GB didn't mention the armed forces in his speech yesterday.