Armed forces face 'tough choices

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.c...s-defence-green-paper

Reading between the lines is this 'Green Paper' an opening gambit for the creation of an European defence force?

Do we need to support an Armed Forces on the scale that we do now?

/// In future the forces would not be able to "insure against every risk" and decisions would have to be taken on where the most important priorities lie.///

[jake-the-peg]

No and no

We do need to align our spending and commitments better.

Someone should tot up the cost of Iraq and send Bush and Blair an invoice.

[Gromit]

One advantage of a European Army, at least we wouldn't be taken into war on the whim of one religious nutter.

[jake-the-peg]

True Gromit

Also the desirability of a European army might depend on whether it is the French or the Germans doing the catering!

[anotheoldgit]

Perhaps it would be the French doing the catering, the Germans telling us who to occupy and the British doing the fighting?

[rov1200]

I think we are being pushed in this direction. the US under OBAMA seems unwilling to go on world adventures and they may be thinking of cutting their defences. As Britain can no longer afford it on own own it makes sense to join up with European forces especially when the disputes are closer to home like Kosova and also the new EU ex communist countries.

[Gromit]

We are trying to fight above our weight, but can no longer afford our Armed Forces at its present size.

Our huge Armed Forces made sense when we had an Empire to win. It made sense when we had an Empire to defend and maintain, but now our Empire is gone, we are used to fight other people's battles. We last fought alone over a quarter of a cenutry ago for a big lump of Guano in the South Atlantic. Since then, our battles have been for the Americans or NATO, defending borders a long way away from our own.

The nature of the threat has also changed. Al Qaeda does not have tanks, aircraft, ships or submarines. It does not even have a Army in the conventional sense. We have an outdated Military but we cannot afford to modernise it.

So, we have three choices.
1. Pour tens of billions a year maintaining our present numbers and capability.
2. Downsize and concentrate on defending ourselves, and not the World
3. Spread the costs by joining a EU Army. Rethink our NATO commitments.

[McMouse]

Agree with Gromit regarding downsizing. Not sure what possible use a EU force would be. For starters, few EU countries have the same sense of duty and discipline displayed by UK forces.

[anotheoldgit]

Option 2 seems the way out.

An European army would be a disaster, and it would also mean the UK pumping more than a fair share of money, and manpower into the system, just as we now do in the EUC and NATO.

[rov1200]

Trouble with No2 is that you can't build half an aircraft carrier. I plump for No 3.