Letter: British peace forces
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Donald Macintyre is right to warn against further deep cuts in the defence budget (Comment, 5 December), as these would relegate Britain to the "third rank" of military powers. Those who want our spending to fall to the European average have no qualms at this prospect but now is not the time to abdicate this country's prominent role in upholding international security.
The military provides an essential enabling force in the pursuit of an ethical foreign policy. Further peace support operations, involving peace enforcement, peace-keeping and post-conflict reconstruction will require both a high- and low-intensity military capability, as well as diplomatic effort, humanitarian aid agency involvement and developmental assistance. British forces perform superbly in these situations.
Nor should Britain sacrifice its ability to contribute to Gulf War-type operations. We should not leave it to the US and France to shoulder this burden alone.
When we send our armed forces into action they must be given the best chance of achieving their goals with the minimum casualties. This requires expensive, modern equipment.
It is incumbent on those who wish to preserve Britain's ability to assist in the delivery of food to the starving, to prevent genocide and defend the victims of aggression to resist those who wish to plunder the defence budget further.
Dr STEPHEN PULLINGER
Executive Director
International Security
Information Service
London WC2
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments