American Politics Journal -- Military Confusion, Coming Friction

American Politics Journal

Military Confusion, Coming Friction
By Nicola Mitchell

Nov. 21, 2001 - LONDON (APJP) -- As the war in Afghanistan begins to make progress, the combined propaganda war between Washington and Britain is also gathering pace, but it would appear that not everything is going exactly to plan as here in the UK, there appears to be continual confusion as to the role that is to be played by the British military.

After weeks of bad press and murmurs of public scepticism, the past few days have seen the Transatlantic spin network running in overdrive to redeem the campaign in Afghanistan as victorious. We've seen numerous press conferences, statements with joint messages, and now even Blair and Bush's wives are getting in on the act, as both Cherie Blair and Laura Bush are to speak out against the Taliban's record on woman's rights.

This latest leg of the propaganda battle will see Cherie Blair, who rarely gets directly involved with government matters, join senior female cabinet ministers at Downing street in an attempt to "lift the veil" on the treatment of women under the Taliban's regime, while Laura Bush is set to give a radio address to highlight the issue.

But, despite the successes of the spin machine, other aspects of the campaign do not appear to be working with such precision, with mixed messages from UK ministers and those on the ground in Afghanistan continuing to highlight the confusion around the use of British military forces.

In recent days it has been revealed that small groups of SAS troops are operating on the ground while a number of men from the elite Special Boat Service have arrived at Bagram airport to begin assessing the situation on the ground. The trouble is, the Northern Alliance seems agitated by suggestions of their presence and claim to have no knowledge of their arrival, but, on the other hand, British defence officials have been quoted as saying troops had established "a working relationship" with the alliance.

But the arrival of the troops has not been the only mixed signals coming out of Downing Street, as while Tony Blair has been playing up the potential role of British troops, the defence secretary Geoff Hoon, has been preaching caution and stressing the dangers that await any forces who are committed to the ground.

However, the confusing messages don't just stop with problems in the British camp, but have begun to spread across the coalition fuelled by recent remarks by Dick Cheney that military action against other countries suspected of terrorism is an option, "should it be required." The problem is that such action is something Britain, France and Germany have all said they are firmly against.

Cheney's remarks will perhaps signal the beginning of Blair's most difficult challenge yet: taking on America's political right. I have a feeling that holding together an international coalition will seem like a walk in the park compared with appeasing members of America's far right.

This mammoth task is something that needs to be addressed if the coalition is to stay together. As far as I can see, if the coalition is to work in harmony there needs to be some serious discussions on what will happen after the war in Afghanistan is over.

But before Blair begins taking on members of the Bush administration, he needs to begin sorting out the in fighting within his own party, and counteract some of the damage done by a recent documentary aired on the BBC which has shown former cabinet minister Mo Mowlam, who won the hearts of the public after her tireless work in Northern Ireland, suggesting that the British cabinet has been killed by Blair's tight control over government and his reliance on a small group of unelected officials.

It seems to me that although the war is beginning to make headway, the battles that lie beneath the surface are starting to escalate, and if there is to be a successful outcome to the war against terror, the wars amongst ourselves need to be brought to an end first.