Moral fibre and military plans

12 April 2012
Evening Standard editorial comment

The Prime Minister plans a major speech tomorrow, in which he will prepare the British public for a long struggle in Afghanistan, and stress the importance of Britain's "moral fibre" in seeing this through. We have supported, and continue to support, military action against those responsible for the 11 September attacks on America. The evidence seems overwhelming that the atrocities were the work of the al Qaeda network, for which the Afghan Taliban provide safe haven. It was always inevitable that the Western campaign would start with bombing. It was hoped - not least in Downing Street and the White House - that this would be followed by ground operations to "take out" Osama bin Laden and his gangs.

Unfortunately, however, the badly-needed intelligence break that would make this possible has not come. Three weeks on, there is a growing belief that the Coalition is continuing to bomb only because it cannot think what else to do. This is bad news for the allies' credibility, when so many people in the West feel instinctive distaste for air attacks on primitive peoples. Few people are persuaded that crushing the Taliban is an objective as convincing as catching Bin Laden. The Prime Minister should not suppose that British moral fibre is in danger of cracking as the struggle goes on.

The problem is that the public feels unsure what it is being asked to support, and uncomfortable about the obvious faltering of purpose at the top, above all in Washington. Amid so many uncertainties, we should stick to a few obvious truths. First and most frivolous, sceptics should note that both Mr Tony Benn and Mr John Pilger are passionately opposing the campaign in Afghanistan. It has been a sound principle for many years, that no one who chooses the opposite side to these gentlemen in any controversy can go far wrong. At a more serious level, our leaders are right to emphasise that this struggle is bound to take a long time.

It is impossible to bomb anything without inflicting some civilian casualties. In general this campaign seems to be conducted with exemplary care and restraint - so much so, indeed, that humanitarian concerns make its military purpose difficult to fulfil. To use force requires inflicting pain. If we cannot accept this, we become incapable of defending ourselves. The West desperately needs an intelligence break to find Osama bin Laden. Sooner or later found he must be, for the safety - never mind the credibility - of Western civilization. Having started this thing, we have to see it through. Washington and its allies may not be conducting this campaign perfectly, but they have so far done nothing that deserves to forfeit our trust.

The consequences of going on are difficult, even bewildering. The consequences of allowing the escape of Bin Laden, of admitting defeat in the struggle against the terrorists and those who harbour them, are unthinkable.

Victoria Climbie

Yet it is difficult to see what lessons can be drawn from this inquiry which have not been drawn from previous ones. Of course there were gross individual lapses by well-meaning people, the cumulative effect of which was the failure to save Victoria Climbie. However, there is no reason to disbelieve the official line that Britain's system of child protection is among the best in Europe.

It is easy to say that communications need to be improved, but this is already happening. The problem, a self-fulfilling one, is that the more media clamour and full-rig inquiries there are about the very few children like Victoria who fall through the net, the more fragile the whole system becomes. People stop volunteering for childcare work.

Some London boroughs have vacancy rates of nearly 75 per cent for childcare fieldworkers. Social work departments need to be better funded - and social workers should sometimes be praised for their achievements in holding families together, not just vilified when things go wrong.

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