Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
| Format | US | UK |
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This is an MOD green paper pre-empting the white paper and it’s a very clear and concise document about the politics of war. We are a trading nation and we will go to war to keep our trading routes clear. Alan Greenspan said we went to war in Iraq for the oil and he was right. The fuel is coming on line now (the army is getting a deal for something like five pence a litre) and, though Basra is never going to be a day out in Margate, things have calmed down because people are making money.
Your fifth choice is a Ministry of Defence green paper.
Yes, a bit geeky this one. This is an MOD green paper pre-empting the white paper and it’s a very clear and concise document about the politics of war. We are a trading nation and we will go to war to keep our trading routes clear. Alan Greenspan said we went to war in Iraq for the oil, and he was right. The fuel is coming on line now (the army is getting a deal for something like five pence a litre) and, though Basra is never going to be a day out in Margate, things have calmed down because people are making money. It’s about the freedom of goods, services and information and to secure our food and resources. That’s the way we do it. We don’t send in the gunships any more, but we go into joint operations with America because they have the same doctrine as us. We are in Afghanistan because we need stability in the region – there is the Caspian Sea up north and the oil pipeline heading west into Turkey. And the Pakistani soldiers facing India, of course. That’s why the US refer to it as the AfPak situation, not just Afghanistan. Karachi is now virtually under sharia law and the influence of the Taliban is a real problem. Russia and China are worried – that’s why Russia went into Afghanistan. To stabilise the borders. People say that nobody has ever won in Afghanistan but no one, including the Brits, has ever been there with the purpose of taking the country.
The McChrystal doctrine is really starting to work –training up a credible army and police force. It’s working better with the army. But [General] McChrystal has gripped it. Brilliant. The political situation is still a problem though – with a weak and corrupt government who are football mad and have said they’d rather watch Chelsea than deal with the problems. President Karzai is known as the Mayor of Kabul – he’s weak. And the drugs trade is still going strong, you can buy heroin for $200 a kilo in the countryside, double in Kabul. It needs sorting out. Two years ago they had the best crop they’ve ever had, but if you took it away they’d all join the Taliban. They fight for money. It’s about money.
Couldn’t it be legalised?
Yeah. Bush used to pay the Taliban to keep the yield low, but that’s all over now. Colin Powell said: ‘We can shower you with money or we can shower you with bombs.’
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Andy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland. In the Gulf War, McNab commanded the famous Bravo Two Zero patrol. The patrol infiltrated Iraq in January 1991, but were soon compromised. Three of the eight were killed, four captured, one escaped. McNab was held for six weeks and tortured. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS in February 1993. Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). His latest novel War Torn, is just out.
