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Ex-commander sees UK military ‘feeble’ in world stage

Sunday, 14 June 2015 3:19 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 14 June 2015 3:19 PM ]

Former British commander Admiral Nigel Essenhigh has criticized the UK military cuts, saying the country’s military has become emasculated in the face of threats.

Writing in the Telegraph, the former First Sea Lord, says there are “disquieting parallels” between Britain’s unwillingness to arm itself now and in the 1930s when it failed to prepare to combat the growing threat from [former leader of Nazi Germany Adolf] Hitler until it was “nearly too late.”

“Thus there is cover for our recent, feeble responses to events in the Middle East such as in Libya, Syria and once again in Iraq, as well as in the face of the exponential threat posed by the [ISIL],” he wrote.

His comments come as four former leaders of the armed forces have issued a warning about the decline of British influence, saying they are deeply concerned by the UK’s failure to act as crises grow in Iraq, Syria and Russia.

The four men - Admiral Nigel Essenhigh, Admiral Lord Boyce, Field Marshal Lord Walker and Air Chief Marshal Peter Squire- liken Britain’s inaction to the “appeasement” of Nazi Germany before the Second World War.

The former commanders warn that cuts to the forces in the past five years have already “seriously undermined” Britain’s military alliance with America.

Britain is now facing the real risk of being drawn into a conflict with an ‘increasingly aggressive’ Russia in Eastern Europe, but there are serious questions over whether the UK would be able to respond, the former commanders say.

Now political commentator Hafsa Kara-Mustapha believes the UK military top brass “are using very classic fear-mongering techniques such as referring to the Second World War, appeasement, Adolf Hitler. These are all buzzwords used to actually force government officials and public opinion to side with them.”

She went on to describe such rhetoric as “ridiculous because what they are trying to say is that on the one hand Britain is involved in creating these wars and on the other hand these senior military figures are claiming to be victims and weak as a result of a smaller budget.”

GHN/GHN

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