Mali could be UK’s Vietnam: experts

The warning came after it was announced that the UK government was sending 350 British military personnel to Mali and West Africa to support French troops.

Members of Parliament (MPs) and military experts voiced concerns over Cameron’s earlier decision to send in troops to the troubled West African state to help French troops in a training mission.

Moreover, they warned British troops could be dragged into yet another open-ended military quagmire.

“The American catastrophe in Vietnam started off with a deployment of troops in a training capacity,” said former Labour cabinet minister Frank Dobson.

This is how major wars begin. In the early 1960s, the United States started with a few “special advisors” in Vietnam. More than a decade later it left defeated, with over 50,000 American troops and at least two million Vietnamese killed.

Meanwhile, former Armed Forces minister Sir Nick Harvey said the number of UK troops involved could “begin to climb quite rapidly”, warning that they would be needed for “a good many years”.

The spread of the so-called “war on terror” to the Sahel region in Africa is a result of the chaos created by the Libyan intervention. It is also driven by the same motivations as previous wars, the desire to control vital energy reserves and other mineral resources. The region contains some of most important energy sources Europe needs.

Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has already provided two heavy-lift C-17 transport planes and a Sentinel surveillance aircraft to assist France’s intervention in Mali.

France launched its war on Mali on January 11, under the pretext of halting the advance of the fighters who control the northern part of the African country.

The Mali intervention will end with the same results: destruction, loss of life and deep anger against the west.

MOS/MOL/HE

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/30/286411/vietnam/

Views: 0

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes