Thursday, March 14, 2013

Scottish independence: Defence Minister Philip Hammond says that backward SNP defence plans compromise UK's safety, Hammond mocks incompetent Alex Salmond: "Join the Navy and see the Clyde" add to it, “bring your own dinghies, not enough to share”


















Dear All

In life there are always stark truths to swallow; one is that soldiers, sailors and airmen serving with the British armed forces may be unwilling to sign up for a new independent Scottish defence force.

In the various arms of the British Forces, there are many opportunities which will not be available due to cost in the armed forces of an independent Scotland.

The military is a good choice for youngsters from deprived backgrounds to get ahead, learn a trade, see the world and where needed assist in humanitarian efforts. Iraq and Afghanistan are two areas where political decisions to use them were wrong. This wasn’t the fault of military leaders rather the government of the day at Westminster.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond warns quite rightly that a Scottish defence force would be able to offer only a "fraction" of the opportunities available in the British forces. Alex Salmond hasn’t exactly been a great success on military matters, his rationale is just ‘say no’.

The SNP has had 80 years to have a viable defence plan, in that time they produced nothing, it ties into what I have said and said regarding the genuine lack of talent in the Scottish National Party.

And of course there is an issue of trust, who in their right mind would sign up to a Scottish Armed Forces when a party like the SNP has people like Tommy Ball in it? Ball resigned his membership after calling British Soldiers “uneducated racists thugs” and “child killers”. Although gone from the party, at some stage he will be allowed back in, he is close to people around the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon.

After independence fails in 2014, watch out, the SNP will return to being anti NATO at a future conference, the change of heart isn’t a change of heart, it’s a con, short term thinking to try and push through indy.

So, Tory MP Phillip Hammond is right to highlight the SNP's plans for the defence are a "significant gamble".

And to drive the point home, he said in an interview mocking and ridiculing a SNP promise to keep 15,000 service personnel in Scotland:

"Join the Navy and see the Clyde."

In defence, operational experience is vital, there are risks and lessons to be learned; sometimes those lessons can be painful and tragic.

Holyrood is run as a 9 to 5 enterprise, the poor relation to Westminster in terms of talent, although there a few bright sparks, not enough especially on the SNP benches.

Down south, the SNP Westminster leader and Defence spokesman is Angus Robertson MP, his expertise in defence appears to be whinging about troops numbers and looking at the website of the Norwegian Navy.

His latest whine is claiming that the Defence Secretary has only come to Edinburgh to ‘insult Scottish service personnel’.

Remember the SNP Tactic of grudge, grievance and malcontent?

How many times has Angus Robertson been to Afghanistan and Iraq to support the Scottish Forces?

Hammond added:

 "The British armed forces are able to attract some of the highest calibre recruits because they are able to offer some exciting and demanding career opportunities, with the chance to deploy overseas on operations and training and with the cache of being among the best and most widely respected armed forces in the world”.

That is the bar that the SNP Government can’t match.

Hammond continued:

 "The nationalists have taken for granted that soldiers currently serving in the 'Scottish' regiments would want to serve in a Scottish defence force. But who knows how many Scots would want to serve a new state as part of a Scottish defence force? They certainly wouldn't have a fraction of the opportunities they currently have for overseas deployment and training, nor the diversity of experience or access to the quality of kit and equipment with which they currently operate. "It is a significant gamble to assume that troops in our UK armed forces would volunteer for a Scottish defence force. All of this adds up to a set of serious questions about the SNP's military personnel plans."

Rather like SNP Activists who are deserting the SNP, it seems the Scots in the military share a similar view, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon aren’t people that command respect and certainly not with their destiny and lives.

It’s AWOL time at the SNP.

All the SNP can do now, is whine about troop numbers and play their continual stupid petty little game of grudge, grievance and malcontent.

Alex Salmond couldn’t defend this country of Scotland; he couldn’t even get round an obstacle course, as for Ms. Sturgeon who increasingly is wearing black as she mourns the death of her independence campaign….. well….. it’s just ….. no thanks!

In a final slap in the face to Scotland’s ’warleaders in waiting’, Hammond added:

"Taking random units and putting them together does not make an army. Half a destroyer would be no use to anyone, neither would be one frigate”.

Lack of thought, lack of vision, no plans, no preparation, have another curry Alex, the end is coming soon enough.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University 

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