Two media storms of interest this week – the Special Forces Saga and the Farage Non-Revelation.
The Director of Special Forces (DSF) has a unique position in Government. He controls what in other countries are known as the Republican Guard i.e. an elite force that is dedicated to serve the National Security Council’s priorities and do their dirty work behind the scenes. Be of no doubt that this important body can succumb to “group-think” and be seduced by the mantra: “you are either with us or against us”. The fact that the government never comments on their operations lends weight to the Media’s gripe that Special Forces are “unaccountable”, but the fact is their use of lethal force has to be approved at the highest level in Whitehall.
I was in Kabul and Helmand in 2012 in my role as Head of the Defence Cultural and Language Capability and saw at first hand how our Afghan interpreters were being treated, especially those working with the Special Forces. Unfortunately, the Independent Inquiry relating to Afghanistan will have to confirm unlawful activity by Special Forces deployed not only from Britain, but also from our Allies as well.
There are two tracks to deal with this. The first is the official enquiry, which will be slow and bureaucratic; the second is the internal lessons identified process, run secretly by the Chief of the General Staff using DSF and someone like the Director of Operational Capability to identify important lessons. These will be implemented rapidly, so that when the official inquiry eventually publishes its report, the Ministry of Defence can look smug and say: “We have already dealt with these issues”.
The second storm about the causes of the Russia-Ukraine war is to me more worrying. Nigel Farage was correct in his summation of why Putin invaded Ukraine. Many commentators, including myself, have for a long time suggested that NATO was playing with fire when it courted Ukraine, so this is not news. Understandably, the government will not wish to say anything that could be interpreted as not supporting Ukraine; however, the dilemma that Farage highlighted will have to be faced eventually. Unless the West is willing to put bodies on the line, this war will drift on with little end in sight because Putin is achieving his aim by occupying large sections of the country within missile range of Moscow. We have to take this seriously and prepare properly, if we wish to deter Putin from further expanding his borders in Europe.
Rupert Wieloch 