UK: How many more will die in vain before we withdraw?

The attempt to exploit soldiers’ deaths to win support for the shameful war in Afghanistan thankfully isn’t working

• 
• • Seumas Milne
  • guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 July 2009 22.00 BST

All week politicians, media and the military have strained every nerve to turn public sympathy over the deaths of British squaddies into support for the US-led occupation of Afghanistan. After a year of parades, a new Armed Forces Day and a stream of censored reports of derring-do from the frontline, the killing of 15 soldiers in 10 days has triggered a barrage of war propaganda. Having all but ignored the same number who died in Helmand province last month, every tabloid and Whitehall stop has been pulled out to capitalise on the emotions unleashed by the continuing sacrifice of British teenagers in an endless war.

From the Ministry of Defence-orchestrated processions of coffins through the Wiltshire village of Wootton Bassett to the black ties worn by Sky TV presenters as they address generals as “sir”, the message is clear: this war is a “patriotic duty”, in the prime minister’s words. The only argument in parliament yesterday was whether the government had provided enough helicopters and boots on the ground to do the job.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghans, Barack Obama's war escalation, fast-changing war aims, Helmand, ritish casualties, Seumas Milne, war