Margo MacDonald: Losing sight of troops' needs in war of words

Published on Wednesday 18 November 2009 09:20

I DO not doubt for a minute Gordon Brown's sincerity when he intones the names and regiments of the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan before he answers his first question at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

He looks and sounds sad and sombre, as indeed do Tory Leader David Cameron and the Lib Dems' Nick Clegg, who repeat almost word for word what the PM has said in paying tribute to soldiers who paid the ultimate price in a war about which unease is growing by the day.

Yet despite the politicians' desire to show how much they appreciate the work undertaken by those whose lives they acknowledge by naming them and sending public condolences to their bereaved families, the precedent now created and followed in the Scottish Parliament would be more believable if the party leaders agreed amongst themselves what should be said by only one of them, speaking for the entire parliament.

It's a small point, but after a while, the deaths of 20-year-olds are reported further down the news bulletins and they'll become ritualised in much the same fashion as many other little customs in Westminster. This will be seen as just another example of how governments are great at comforting words that cost nothing, but not so hot at providing the home comforts and care earned by young men and women who literally put their lives on the line by doing their duty.

Mr Brown does care about soldiers lost in pursuit of a questionable military objective. Spelling mistakes and all, his letter to bereaved mother Jacqui Janes shows the PM to be more sensitive and sympathetic than he sometimes appears. But that's no substitute for the sort of entitlements members of the armed forces should have on re-entering civvy street. The American GI Bill with its entitlement to education and training, for example, would be a good starting point.

Warm words are not enough. And although they're usually acted on eventually, neither do good intentions represent enough gratitude or discharged obligation. Not when too many service families are living in unfit housing, and too many soldiers who walk off the troop plane are then on a road to nowhere because the people who sent them to war don't prepare and support them in living with the aftermath.

The wounded who can't walk off the plane may be discreetly taken to the most appropriate medical and recuperative facilities, but for their families the trauma and heartbreak can be as life-changing as it is for those wounded whose names are not read out, and whom we must hope count themselves lucky to be alive.

This last group is not completely forgotten, and it would be wrong to think they are. Governments may be reluctant to publicise their numbers of injuries, particularly if these were incurred in a war considered futile by many of those in whose name it is being fought, but the NHS, the British Legion and a host of other charities are, fortunately, skilled and experienced in picking up the pieces left by wars, whether futile, justifiable or foolhardy.

But one group of essential personnel in Afghanistan does appear to have been ill-rewarded for the risks taken and the lives lost in pursuing the goal set by the US and the UK governments: the establishment of democracy and the demise of the Taleban. Mistakenly, Obama and Brown think their soldiers can win hearts, minds and gun-battles, and communicate their desires to the people in whose country they believe al-Qaeda conspires to attack the West. In fact, interpreters are amongst their most needed human resources.

These ancillaries are marked men and show a commitment to helping British and American troops achieve their aims. Had they performed the same function in Iraq they would be granted the right to live in Britain. When the allies do leave Afghanistan, whether in the style and speed that marked the Americans' departure from Vietnam or with flags flying and the Afghans smiling, interpreters and their families are likely to experience the displeasure of their fellow citizens as did French people judged to have collaborated with the German occupiers.

We need to act to thank and protect those who give so much for us.

FRESH from an absolutely rotten campaign in Glasgow North East, Alex Salmond changed gear and did what he's best at – talking to finance and business leaders about economic management and growth at a big-brains pow-wow in Frankfurt. He was there to reassure them Scotland's still pretty good with the bawbees and that other financial services are carrying on (almost) regardless. There's nobody better at this; Jim Murphy's not at the races. If only the SNP leader was as good at promoting the need for sovereignty.