Damning report by defence committee singles out failures in manpower, intelligence and equipment that led to loss of lives The five-year British military campaign in southern Afghanistan has been woefully under-resourced and hampered by inadequate equipment, according to a damning report by MPs. The Commons defence select committee, which has been analysing UK operations in Helmand province since 2006, says that it was “unacceptable” British forces were handicapped by insufficient numbers, poor equipment and low-quality intelligence when the deployment began. For the first three years of the operation – during which 132 British personnel died and more than 2,000 were hospitalised in Helmand – victory was more or less unattainable given the levels of manpower, military vehicles available and knowledge of the enemy. The initial deployment of 3,500 solders into Helmand, of whom around 1,000 were infantry, was “not fully thought through”, the report says. James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister and chairman of the committee, said: “The force levels deployed throughout 2006, 2007 and 2008 were never going to achieve what was being demanded.” The report questions how the Ministry of Defence failed to anticipate that the presence of foreign troops in Helmand “might stir up a hornets’ nest”. The then defence secretary, John Reid, was famously reported as saying that he would have been happy if British forces had left Helmand “without a shot being fired”. By the end of 2008, however, British forces were expending almost four million bullets a year against an increasingly strident insurgency. The report also raises concerns that UK troops were in effect sent to tackle an enemy of which virtually nothing was known because available intelligence “was contradictory”. By the summer of 2006, military tactics dictated that individual platoons of about 30 soldiers were cornered in isolated towns, provoking an aggressive response from the surrounding Taliban. During August and September of that year, 27 soldiers were killed as the enemy launched repeated attacks against remote outposts. The committee’s first report on Afghanistan for more than a year also criticises the military’s failure to make clear the need for more resources. Representations to government are described as “inadequate at best”. As the conflict progressed, the MoD was criticised for failing to keep up with the evolving tactics of the Taliban, who switched from conventional warfare to guerrilla tactics involving suicide attacks and improvised explosive devices. In particular, a failure to provide bomb-proof vehicles and counter-IED support was a serious flaw that almost certainly cost British lives. The flimsy armoured vehicles first sent to Helmand – the Snatch Land Rover and armoured personnel carriers dating from the 1960s – offered minimal protection. “It took some time to get a suitably capable vehicle fleet into theatre. The MoD should prioritise the protection of personnel when considering the funding of such needs that emerge in the future,” the report says. Even now, it adds, British forces still lack sufficient helicopter numbers. A dispute in Whitehall over supplying 12 more Chinook helicopters to Helmand has yet to be settled. Looking ahead to Britain’s withdrawal from the province, MPs warn that the government’s room for manoeuvre is limited. Earlier this month David Cameron confirmed a “modest reduction” in British troops next year, probably by around 500. A further 400 are due to return home this year, leaving a core of 9,500 service personnel. Arbuthnot said: “The government’s clear determination to withdraw combat forces should not undermine the military strategy by causing the Afghan population to fear that the international coalition might abandon them or by allowing the Taliban and others to think that all they have to do is bide their time.” Afghanistan Defence policy James Arbuthnot Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Julia Neuberger: ‘A nudge in the right direction won’t run the big society’
July 16, 2011 No Comment
House of Lords inquiry into US ‘nudge’ theory of human behaviour deals blow to coalition hopes of replacing costly legislation with social encouragement Ever since her appointment a year ago to head the House of Lords inquiry into behavioural change, Baroness (Julia) Neuberger has noticed that her grocery shopping habits have altered. “I’ve been looking at the labels very closely,” she says. “Takes much longer. The usual thing of throwing it all into the trolley – no!” The labels that Neuberger has been examining with such intent are designed to provide customers with colour-coded guidance on the amounts of salt, sugar and fat within each product. It is hoped that by using the “traffic light” system to highlight the more harmful ingredients, in say, a chocolate Hobnob, members of the public will be persuaded to eat more healthily. It is an example of “nudge”, the belief, promulgated by two American professors in a 2008 book, that human beings can be encouraged to make life-improving choices through incentives and social cues rather than through regulation and government legislation. The theory – outlined by Richard Thaler, professor of economics and behavioural science at Chicago Graduate School of Business, and by Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein – has been eagerly adopted by David Cameron , who set up a behavioural insight team last October. The unit was charged with introducing nudge to the “big society” or, as the coalition agreement puts it, “finding intelligent ways to encourage people to make better choices for themselves”. It was hoped issues such as the obesity crisis could be tackled by nudges – clearer food labelling, placing fruit not chocolate near supermarket checkouts – rather than by heavy-handed (and expensive) state intervention. The problem, as Neuberger saw it, was that there was “precious little” evidence to show that nudge worked beyond a purely individual basis. So the Lords set up a subgroup of its respected science and technology committee to examine the issues. After 12 months of research, 148 written submissions and evidence from 70 witnesses, the report will be published on Tuesday. It will make uncomfortable reading for Cameron because, according to Neuberger, nudging people is not normally enough. “Basically you need more than just nudge,” she says, when we meet in the Lords. “Behavioural change interventions appear to work best when they’re part of a package of regulation and fiscal measures,” she adds, putting down her papers and a large canvas bag from Daunt Books in Hampstead. She notices me looking at the bag. “I use it for everything! I don’t like briefcases.” The difficulty with nudge theory, she says, is that “all politicians love quick fixes. I mean, they look at very short time frames. I think one of the problems with all of this is if you really want to change people’s behaviour it takes a very long time … you have to look at a 20- to 25-year span before you get a full change of behaviour.” As an example, Neuberger points to the efforts to persuade people to wear seat belts in the 1970s, which incorporated an advertising campaign and legislation. “So it was a whole series of measures that did eventually change the climate.” Later, she adds: “I think politicians would be well advised to use these sorts of behavioural interventions as part of an armoury.” “Politicians all have a split personality,” she adds. “On one level, they engage their brains and they know perfectly well that things do take quite a long time to happen. On the other, they’ve got a very short time frame: they want to get re-elected, they need to make a mark. They have been, I think, very persuaded by the work of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. I think they found that very appealing because, broadly, they prefer the idea of using behavioural change interventions to legislating or using fiscal measures.” Presumably, part of the appeal is also that, in a time of austerity, nudging costs much less than legislating? Neuberger nods. “There needs to be a huge amount of work, which I think the government will eventually have to pay for.” Did she enjoy Nudge when she read it? “It’s quite engaging,” she replies, not entirely enthusiastically. “It’s quite compelling as a book but, like all of those sorts of book – like The Tipping Point , like Bowling Alone , those books that have made quite an impact on politicians – I would say, you want to stand back for a few minutes and say: ‘But, but, but’.” From September, Neuberger will become a full-time rabbi at the West London Synagogue and going on to the crossbenches. “Because I’ve got members of the congregation of all religious faiths and none, I don’t want people to think I’m preaching Lib Dem politics from the pulpit.” She has clearly enjoyed heading the select committee – “it’s been a fantastically good experience” – but there is one thing she won’t miss. “There was a huge amount of written evidence,” she says, holding her hands at least 10 inches apart. “I mean, it’s like that – absolutely vast. It’s been with me backwards and forwards to Leamington Spa [where she lives with her husband, Anthony], but it always has to go in the car because it’s just too much to lug about.” She pauses, then adds with an impish grin: “Even in my Daunts bag.” Social trends Psychology Anthropology Elizabeth Day guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Larry Flynt may be the king of smut publishing, but don’t get him wrong. The man still respects some good, old-fashioned boundaries when it comes to the press. It’s this very respect, he contends, that sets him apart from fellow media magnate Rupert Murdoch. In an op-ed piece for the…
Continue reading …Boy, that was some lightning strike. When North Korea’s women’s soccer team lost to USA , it blamed the lingering effects of a lightning strike from earlier in the month. Now that five of its players have tested positive for steroids at the World Cup, the team is pulling out the…
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Khartoum is keeping UN peacekeepers in the dark as it wages a violent campaign against its African border people, say confidential reports to security council The full horror of the campaign of violence that the government in Khartoum has unleashed against the black African Nuba people of Sudan has been laid bare in two confidential reports by the UN peacekeeping force that the Observer has obtained. The accounts of “devastating” daily aerial bombardment of civilians, “indiscriminate shelling” of crowded civilian areas, summary executions and deliberate targeting of dark-skinned people are contained in a 19-page report requested by the UN security council. A second report details how “active obstruction by state authorities (in South Kordofan) has completely undermined the ability of the peacekeeping force, UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), to fulfil the most basic requirements of its mandate” in the Nuba region. The report says the humanitarian assistance and protection provided by Unmis have become “inconsequential” as it prepares to leave Sudan, at Khartoum’s insistence, by 31 July. Unmis officials say privately that they have been “deaf and blind” in South Kordofan ever since war broke out on 5 June and cannot even estimate how many people have been killed and displaced by the fighting – widely perceived as a first step towards President Omar al-Bashir’s stated goal of suppressing ethnic and cultural diversity in favour of a rigid Arab-Islamic regime, following South Sudan’s decision to separate from the North. The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, said on Friday that 1.4 million people were affected by what she called “skirmishes” in South Kordofan, which borders the now independent Republic of South Sudan, and by Khartoum’s refusal to grant “unhindered access” to them. Causing fury among hard-pressed colleagues on the ground, who have been crying out for much stronger support from the security council, she appeared to cast doubt on their reporting, saying: “We do not know whether there is any truth to the grave allegations of extra-judicial killings, mass graves and other violations in South Kordofan.” The Nuba Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) – formerly allied with the South, but now seeking a northern alliance to overthrow the Bashir government – claims that more than 400,000 people have been displaced and 3,000 killed or disappeared. One Unmis staffer, quoted in one of the documents seen by the Observer, reported seeing the bodies of approximately 150 Nuba lying in pools of blood in just one of the many army barracks in the state capital, Kadugli. Khartoum and the SPLA have accused each other of starting the fighting, after a ceasefire that began in 2002. Unmis’s report for the security council, prepared by its human rights section, notes that the SPLM/A refused to accept the results of disputed state elections in May, but says there is no evidence that it initiated military operations. Rather, it says, the fighting may have been triggered by an ultimatum for Nuba fighters to move to South Sudan by 1 June – an order that was tantamount to “disenfranchising them of their citizenship”, given the promise of partition in July. The report suggests that the “especially egregious” crimes committed by government forces justify referral to the international criminal court. It argues that “the international community cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such deliberate attacks by the government of Sudan against its own people”. Deploring the “gross contempt” and “violent and unlawful acts” of government forces towards Unmis – including execution of a staff member, assaults, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and ill treatment “amounting to torture” – the report says: “Condemnation is insufficient… The international community must hold the government of Sudan accountable for its conduct and insist that it arrest and bring to justice those responsible.” National staff of international aid organisations have also come under attack. Unmis cites the case of a young Nuba woman arrested and accused of supporting the SPLM. Unmis human rights officers saw bruises and scars on her body consistent with her claim to have been beaten with fists, sticks, rubber hoses and electric wires. Underscoring the need for the “independent and comprehensive investigation” Unmis recommends, the Observer has been told – by a hitherto impeccable source not connected to the SPLM/A – that 410 captured SPLM sympathisers were ordered executed on 10 June by Major-General Ahmad Khamis, one of four senior army officers sent to South Kordofan from Khartoum at the start of the war. The source told the Observer that the order to kill divided the military and security services. “Many disagreed with Khamis,” he said. “The prisoners who were taken by military intelligence and the (paramilitary) Popular Defence Forces were murdered. Those with the National Intelligence and Security Service are still alive. There is a possibility some will see sunlight again…” Khamis was one of the main implementers of a government jihad in the early 1990s that brought the Nuba people to the brink of destruction. On my first visit to SPLA-controlled areas in 1995, Khamis, then head of military intelligence, was repeatedly named as being responsible for torture and executions – including by his own hand. With the Nuba region now closed to independent observers, and Unmis unable to move freely, it is impossible to verify or disprove claims like this. Significantly, perhaps, Unmis’s human rights report makes mention of “fresh mass graves” seen on 10 June, the day of the reported executions, near Kadugli’s police training centre. Unmis interviewed eyewitnesses who testified to two other mass graves: one in Tilo, four miles east of Kadugli, where an independent UN contractor saw government troops bulldozing bodies into the ground, and a second between army headquarters and Kadugli’s main market. UN military observers attempting to reach the market site were arrested, stripped and threatened with execution. Despite fighting talk by President Bashir on the eve of partition, senior government officials say a framework political agreement mediated by the African Union last month is still alive. Ethiopia and Rwanda have offered to contribute to a post-Unmis mission to monitor a cessation of hostilities, facilitate negotiation, and support the integration of the SPLA into the Sudanese army. The main point of contention is the timeframe for achieving this: the army wants weeks, the SPLA years. Sudan Africa United Nations Julie Flint guardian.co.uk
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Khartoum is keeping UN peacekeepers in the dark as it wages a violent campaign against its African border people, say confidential reports to security council The full horror of the campaign of violence that the government in Khartoum has unleashed against the black African Nuba people of Sudan has been laid bare in two confidential reports by the UN peacekeeping force that the Observer has obtained. The accounts of “devastating” daily aerial bombardment of civilians, “indiscriminate shelling” of crowded civilian areas, summary executions and deliberate targeting of dark-skinned people are contained in a 19-page report requested by the UN security council. A second report details how “active obstruction by state authorities (in South Kordofan) has completely undermined the ability of the peacekeeping force, UN Mission in Sudan (Unmis), to fulfil the most basic requirements of its mandate” in the Nuba region. The report says the humanitarian assistance and protection provided by Unmis have become “inconsequential” as it prepares to leave Sudan, at Khartoum’s insistence, by 31 July. Unmis officials say privately that they have been “deaf and blind” in South Kordofan ever since war broke out on 5 June and cannot even estimate how many people have been killed and displaced by the fighting – widely perceived as a first step towards President Omar al-Bashir’s stated goal of suppressing ethnic and cultural diversity in favour of a rigid Arab-Islamic regime, following South Sudan’s decision to separate from the North. The UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Valerie Amos, said on Friday that 1.4 million people were affected by what she called “skirmishes” in South Kordofan, which borders the now independent Republic of South Sudan, and by Khartoum’s refusal to grant “unhindered access” to them. Causing fury among hard-pressed colleagues on the ground, who have been crying out for much stronger support from the security council, she appeared to cast doubt on their reporting, saying: “We do not know whether there is any truth to the grave allegations of extra-judicial killings, mass graves and other violations in South Kordofan.” The Nuba Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) – formerly allied with the South, but now seeking a northern alliance to overthrow the Bashir government – claims that more than 400,000 people have been displaced and 3,000 killed or disappeared. One Unmis staffer, quoted in one of the documents seen by the Observer, reported seeing the bodies of approximately 150 Nuba lying in pools of blood in just one of the many army barracks in the state capital, Kadugli. Khartoum and the SPLA have accused each other of starting the fighting, after a ceasefire that began in 2002. Unmis’s report for the security council, prepared by its human rights section, notes that the SPLM/A refused to accept the results of disputed state elections in May, but says there is no evidence that it initiated military operations. Rather, it says, the fighting may have been triggered by an ultimatum for Nuba fighters to move to South Sudan by 1 June – an order that was tantamount to “disenfranchising them of their citizenship”, given the promise of partition in July. The report suggests that the “especially egregious” crimes committed by government forces justify referral to the international criminal court. It argues that “the international community cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such deliberate attacks by the government of Sudan against its own people”. Deploring the “gross contempt” and “violent and unlawful acts” of government forces towards Unmis – including execution of a staff member, assaults, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and ill treatment “amounting to torture” – the report says: “Condemnation is insufficient… The international community must hold the government of Sudan accountable for its conduct and insist that it arrest and bring to justice those responsible.” National staff of international aid organisations have also come under attack. Unmis cites the case of a young Nuba woman arrested and accused of supporting the SPLM. Unmis human rights officers saw bruises and scars on her body consistent with her claim to have been beaten with fists, sticks, rubber hoses and electric wires. Underscoring the need for the “independent and comprehensive investigation” Unmis recommends, the Observer has been told – by a hitherto impeccable source not connected to the SPLM/A – that 410 captured SPLM sympathisers were ordered executed on 10 June by Major-General Ahmad Khamis, one of four senior army officers sent to South Kordofan from Khartoum at the start of the war. The source told the Observer that the order to kill divided the military and security services. “Many disagreed with Khamis,” he said. “The prisoners who were taken by military intelligence and the (paramilitary) Popular Defence Forces were murdered. Those with the National Intelligence and Security Service are still alive. There is a possibility some will see sunlight again…” Khamis was one of the main implementers of a government jihad in the early 1990s that brought the Nuba people to the brink of destruction. On my first visit to SPLA-controlled areas in 1995, Khamis, then head of military intelligence, was repeatedly named as being responsible for torture and executions – including by his own hand. With the Nuba region now closed to independent observers, and Unmis unable to move freely, it is impossible to verify or disprove claims like this. Significantly, perhaps, Unmis’s human rights report makes mention of “fresh mass graves” seen on 10 June, the day of the reported executions, near Kadugli’s police training centre. Unmis interviewed eyewitnesses who testified to two other mass graves: one in Tilo, four miles east of Kadugli, where an independent UN contractor saw government troops bulldozing bodies into the ground, and a second between army headquarters and Kadugli’s main market. UN military observers attempting to reach the market site were arrested, stripped and threatened with execution. Despite fighting talk by President Bashir on the eve of partition, senior government officials say a framework political agreement mediated by the African Union last month is still alive. Ethiopia and Rwanda have offered to contribute to a post-Unmis mission to monitor a cessation of hostilities, facilitate negotiation, and support the integration of the SPLA into the Sudanese army. The main point of contention is the timeframe for achieving this: the army wants weeks, the SPLA years. Sudan Africa United Nations Julie Flint guardian.co.uk
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China had called on US to rescind the invitation to the Tibetan spiritual leader, warning it could sour relations with Beijing President Barack Obama held a White House meeting with the Dalai Lama, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, hours after China called on the US to rescind an invitation that could sour relations with Beijing. The Tibetan spiritual leader has been in Washington for an 11-day Buddhist ritual. Thousands of expatriate Tibetans joined a 76th birthday celebration Wednesday for the Dalai Lama, who recently relinquished leadership of Tibet’s government-in-exile. The White House said that during the 45-minute private session in the Map Room, Obama “underscored the importance of the protection of human rights of Tibetans in China.” In a statement issued after the meeting, the White House also said Obama reiterated his support for the preservation of Tibet’s religious, cultural and linguistic traditions. Obama restated US policy that it does not support Tibetan independence, a goal that the Dalai Lama said he also does not seek. In a nod to the criticism from Beijing, Obama also stressed to the Dalai Lama that he considers a cooperative relationship between the United States and China to be important, according to the White House statement. In remarks after the meeting forwarded by Kate Saunders from the International Campaign for Tibet, the Dalai Lama said of his visit with Obama: “Firstly we developed a very close sort of feeling for each other.” He said Obama expressed his concern over basic human values, such as human rights and religious freedoms. “So naturally he shows genuine concern about suffering in Tibet and other places.” A Chinese crackdown led the Dalai Lama to flee into exile in India in 1959. China says he’s welcome to return if he drops his separatist activities, accepts Tibet as an inalienable part of China and recognizes Taiwan as a province of China. Hours before the Dalai Lama’s arrival, the Chinese Foreign Ministry urged the White House to cancel the visit. “We firmly oppose any foreign official to meet with the Dalai Lama in any form,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website. “We request the US side to honour its serious commitment that recognizes Tibet as part of China and opposes Tibet independence,” Hong said. The White House kept the meeting low-key, closing it from news reporters and photographers. It chose the Map Room for the visit instead of the Oval Office, which is reserved for visiting heads of state. The visit comes less than 10 days before US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to visit the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Vice President Joseph Biden is also scheduled to visit China this summer, followed by a trip to Washington by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Obama had been criticized by pro-Tibetan activists for putting off an invitation during the Dalai Lama’s stay in the capital. White House officials said the president’s schedule had been occupied with debt-limit negotiations with congressional leaders. Obama last met the Dalai Lama in February 2010. Dalai Lama Barack Obama China United States guardian.co.uk
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Gaddafi’s soldiers come under pressure at oil town but rebels elsewhere say their efforts are hampered by lack of weapons Libyan fighters said on Saturday they were close to surrounding the key government-held oil town of Brega, the day after the US and other nations in the Libya contact group officially recognised the rebel administration. Radio reports said that after three days of heavy fighting, aided by substantial Nato bombing, rebel units had bypassed the town – cutting off the garrison from its supply lines. “Fighters are around the town,” said Radio Misrata journalist Alseddiq Abuzaian. “They begin to go around, heading for Ras Lanuf [an oil terminal to the west].” A rebel spokesman in Benghazi, Mohamed Zawi, said that fighters launched a probing attack into Brega itself on Friday night before withdrawing, but expected to resume this weekend. Brega is a key oil terminal and has repeatedly changed hands during the civil war. Its capture would be an important psychological boost for the rebels after six weeks of stalemate. Nato denied claims from Tripoli that it had launched a “land, air and sea” offensive at Brega in support of rebels, but the international alliance’s own figures show a sharp escalation in bombing around the town. On Friday, Nato jets – soon to be bolstered by four extra Tornados from the UK – destroyed 14 military vehicles at Brega, compared with 17 destroyed there during the previous six days. The rebel push on Brega is one of the most ambitious of the war, with newly trained units launching a three-pronged attack. While a central advance is struggling to clear minefields near Brega, other units have enveloped government forces from the north and south. The rebel forces say 10 fighters have died and 170 were wounded. Tripoli has released no casualty figures of its own. Further to the west, rebels in the Nafusa mountains say their efforts to advance on Tripoli are being hampered by a lack of weapons or Nato support. They have made significant gains against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in recent weeks and now have Gharyan, a pivotal gateway to Tripoli, in their sights. But they are relying almost entirely on hardware captured from Gaddafi’s fleeing troops, and their momentum stalled last week. This raised the prospect of a stalemate going into Ramadan in August. Ibrahim Taher, a history teacher turned battalion commander in the rebel stronghold of Zintan, has just one rifle for every two fighters – most of whom are young university graduates. “The biggest problem we have now is the lack of weapons, ammunition, communication equipment and vehicles,” he said. “These 230 fighters have five radios between them. Over huge areas, it’s hard to co-ordinate between people. and say ‘advance’ or ‘retreat.’ ” Nato has carried out regular air strikes against Gaddafi’s army in the Nafusa mountains, but Taher says more is needed. “Nato could turn this situation upside down in one day,” he said. “It hits one tank a day and goes home. I don’t know why it does that.” As on other rebel front lines to the east, this is an amateur and sometimes amateurish campaign, compensated by courage and will. The battalion has one anti-aircraft gun, seized from Gaddafi’s men, which it aims horizontally to target heavy weapons and machinery. After military training on Friday, young men cleaned the 14.5mm gun with pride on a pickup truck caked in mud for camouflage except for a sticker depicting the red, black and green rebel flag. It is operated by Muftah Fitoure, 33, previously a worker in a youth development programme run by Gaddafi’s son Saif. “The first time I used it, I was scared,” he recalled. “My aim was some way off. But the second time was better. They [Gaddafi's troops] are still better than us at firing them.” Fitoure, married with a 15-month-old daughter, has lost two cousins and said he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. “I’ve heard too many horror stories. It’s better to be killed than captured. I heard that in the Qawalish fight the Gaddafi forces cut out someone’s heart and killed the others. I have six brothers. If I die trying to reach Tripoli, one of my brothers will reach it in my place.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi Nato Middle East Africa Chris Stephen David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …We were about to tell you not to judge these celebrities for their absurd extravagances … but we won’t. The Frisky reminds us how the other half lives with a list of nine of the craziest ways stars have spent their cash: Victoria Beckham’s Birkin bag collection : A Hermes handbag is…
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