From the
Telegraph (a few days ago):
Defence: an indefensible muddle
A measure of how badly managed the Strategic Defence and Security Review has become was revealed when a rumour should surface at the weekend that the Coldstream Guards – the oldest regiment in the Army – were about to be disbanded.
No evidence was supplied to support this claim and, therefore, we see no reason to take it seriously. What we do take seriously, however, is the prospect of entire battalions being disbanded on their return from Afghanistan – a proposal revealed in a leaked memo to officers from Gen Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff. According to Gen Wall, an extra 5,000 soldiers face losing their jobs, in addition to the 7,000 redundancies already announced. As he put it, “we must assume that these reductions will require the further removal of formed battalions and regiments from the force structure, including the combat arm”.
This is how the British people learn of the dismantling of their Armed Forces these days: through seemingly random leaks rather than carefully prepared ministerial announcement. In some cases, it is how politicians learn of them, too.
This state of affairs reflects deep unhappiness, not just at the scale of the SDSR, but also at its haphazard and bungling execution. “Strategic” it is not. And nor are our demoralised Armed Forces capable of providing the degree of security Britain requires in these unpredictable times.
This newspaper has said many times that the SDSR has made bizarre and ill-considered cuts to the defence budge, such as the scrapping of HMS Ark Royal and its Harrier jets, leaving us without an aircraft carrier for a decade. Here is yet more evidence of muddled thinking and broken lines of communication. If the review must be scrapped in order to secure the defence of the realm, then so be it.
See also:
Decision to axe Harrier is "bonkers" - PPRuNe
As
this post from the Harrier thread illustrates, there seems to have been a breakdown in communication with myths arising over things such as the physical state of things or the level of experience amongst pilots.
By th way, what happens if Gaddafi does not fall? Will the NATO action stop - or carry on until he does? Will it be stopped so that we can concentrate on next years Olympics?