St. Athan academy project a huge risk

The biggest PFI in Welsh history will be the St. Athan Military Academy, which is to be developed in my constituency by the Metrix Consortium. With PFI becoming a widely-discredited method of financing public projects, concerns are growing around the St. Athan development. If last week's Private Eye is to be believed then the entire project is under threat due to a number of reasons.

PFI is likely to become more and more expensive as the credit crunch begins to bite. Private Eye reports that the Defence Training Review's executive board have said that there are "major affordability issues" for the project. The construction of the Academy will also coincide with a number of major building projects such as the London Olympics. At the Welsh level, the development will be taking place at the same time as housing across Wales is upgraded to the Welsh Quality Housing Standard. This will place huge pressure on the construction industry, and the prospect of migrant labour being brought in (likely to be non-unionised and badly paid) is significant. It has also been reported that 72% of military trainers do not want to move to South Wales. Added together, the privatisation of military training by the UK government appears to present huge risks to frontline military personnel.

The military academy is clearly a non-devolved issue. However, in the Senedd yesterday I asked the Leader of the House, Carywn Jones AM, to allow us a thorough debate on the issue. The reason I am pursuing this is because if the St. Athan project falls apart, we need assurances that the fallout will not affect Wales' budget or the work of the Assembly. We also need confirmation that the development of the academy will not divert construction resources away from the Welsh Quality Housing Standard, because upgrading housing is the real priority for Wales and is something Plaid Minister Jocelyn Davies is purposefully working for.

Occupation of Iraq - 5 years on

I just thought I'd share these shocking figures from Robert Fisk in today's Independent :

"the Iraqi civilian death toll since our invasion is now greater than the total number of British military fatalities in the Second World War, which came to an astounding 265,000 dead (some histories give this figure as 300,000) and 277,000 wounded. Minimum estimates for Iraqi dead mean that the civilians of Mesopotamia have suffered six or seven Dresdens or – more terrible still – two Hiroshimas."

Of course, we are only dealing with estimates. As today's Guardian points out:

"The Americans learned one lesson from Vietnam: don't count the civilian dead. As a result, no one knows how many Iraqis have been killed in the five years since the invasion. Estimates put the toll at between 100,000 and one million. 19 Mar 2008 The British polling firm Opinion Research Business (ORB) asked 1,720 Iraqi adults last summer if they had lost family members by violence since 2003; 16% had lost one, and 5% two. Using the 2005 census total of 4,050,597 households in Iraq, this suggests 1,220,580 deaths since the invasion. "

My Plaid colleagues in Westminster have renewed calls for an inquiry into the events which led to the conflict.

Elfyn Llwyd has said “You have always got to consider the loss of life – military and civilian. Why are we spending £30m per week in Iraq and Afghanistan? What is the ultimate purpose?” And I couldn't agree more with Kate Hudson, chair of CND who said ",“The illegality of the war on Iraq, and the crimes committed there, cannot be swept under the carpet. Five years does not erase the guilt of those responsible.”

For information on campaigning against the occupation and for troops out, check out http://www.stopwar.org.uk/

From the Record - PFI

Yesterdays news led me to ask this in the Assembly:

Leanne Wood: We are all acutely aware of the current economic conditions and that the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. The Westminster Government has committed billions of pounds of public money to bailing out the banks, and that money will have to come from somewhere. It seems likely that the bailouts will be paid for, in the long term, by cuts to front-line public services.
We heard in the news today that the Westminster Government intends to provide further billions of pounds to bail out failed and failing private finance initiative schemes. Is it not ironic that public funds are now needed to save private finance initiative schemes? The Welsh Assembly Government is to be commended on its cautious approach to PFI. As times get more difficult, the wisdom of the decision not to embrace the idea of the private sector running public services will become more apparent. However, this Government’s past prudence could work against us in terms of the PFI bailout unless we get our share of any money that becomes available. Will we get our Barnett share of this bailout so that we, too, can build new schools and hospitals?
We also need to be aware that all of this will have an impact on what was meant to be the biggest PFI scheme in the whole of Europe, namely the proposed military training academy at St Athan. The estimated cost of that scheme has already crept up from £11 billion to £12 billion. The project has already lost its lead partner and has since acquired a new partner in the form of a French catering company—

The Presiding Officer: Order. This is not a debate about defence or anything else. This is about the business statement. I would like a question.

Leanne Wood: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Do you agree that PFI is fiscally dangerous, that the Government is under contract to pay for services under PFI—

The Presiding Officer: Order. This is not a debate about PFI. However, if you would like to ask the Leader of the House whether he will organise a debate in which you can raise these issues, that would be quite in order.

Leanne Wood: I am coming to that, Presiding Officer.

The Presiding Officer: Well, it is taking some time. [Laughter.]

Leanne Wood: I would be grateful, Leader of the House, if you could find time for this Assembly to discuss the implications of this latest Westminster bailout. We need to know whether there will be a Barnett consequential for Wales and whether the precarious nature of PFI projects in this economic climate raises questions about the planned development at St Athan.

Carwyn Jones: The Government supports the defence training academy. That project will bring many jobs to the Vale of Glamorgan and surrounding areas. It is the Government’s hope that that project continues to move forward.
The banks are a matter for the UK Government and, indeed, Governments around the world. Despite the imprudence and incompetence of so many banks, it nevertheless remains the case that the banking system must be kept afloat. The hope is that all the shares in the banks that the Government has bought over the past year or so will eventually be sold at little or no cost to the taxpayer. However, I suspect that that time is not at hand, if I may put it in that way.
On the need to debate these issues, the First Minister is able to answer Assembly questions as they come. I know that he will have made his points clearly this week in the meeting of the various First Ministers of the UK’s devolved institutions and the Prime Minster that we wish to ensure that the Welsh budget is protected.

AM says leave Afghanistan

From yesterday's Wales on Sunday

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Minister David Miliband have reaffirmed Britain’s commitment to keeping troops in Afghanistan. But in the face of one of the bloodiest weeks for our Armed Forces in recent memory, LEANNE WOOD AM argues it’s now time to pull out of the war-torn country...

I THINK we need to rewind a bit and remember the reasons we were given for going in to Afghanistan in the first place. People will remember that it was about Osama Bin Laden, who was supposed to be hiding there. At some point, the reasons changed. It became an issue about regime change. It was the same for the case given for the invasion of Iraq. It was originally about weapons of mass destruction, and the threat of Saddam bombing “British interests” in 45 minutes. The reason then switched to regime change. Saddam Hussein had to go, and we hear the same about Taliban. Both were terrible regimes but is it really our government’s place to decide what regimes people in other countries should live under?

I heard a top military officer on the radio recently saying they had reached a stalemate in Afghanistan, so will putting more troops in take them beyond stalemate? What is progress? How is success going to be defined in Afghanistan? How many more people have to lose their lives before the “coalition” concedes that enough is enough? Are UK troops going to be in Afghanistan for years?

I joined the anti-war movement at an early stage and, while Afghanistan was always part of the debate, Iraq was the main focus. But now, of course, Afghanistan is where the blood is being shed.

I understand that more heroin has been coming out of Afghanistan since the conflict began and that is a serious problem. Efforts have gone into controlling that in recent years but how can occupying forces and war help? With the economy in ruins, people will be desperate to make money, and if opium farmers can make more money growing poppies than by other means, they’ll inevitably opt for poppy growing.

Meanwhile, the number of soldiers getting killed there now is increasing. Is this going to turn into another Vietnam scenario? As well as the lives lost, there are many other casualties. I know of families, in the Valleys for example, where young people have come back from Afghanistan with post traumatic stress disorder. We need to be talking about making sure that our young people are properly cared for. Apart from the deaths, which leave unimaginable pain for the families, there are also other consequences of war which are less talked about, particularly on the mental health side, but also physical injuries.

The Westminster government should now accept the situation is unlikely to move beyond stalemate. They should cut their losses and pull all of the troops out of there. They should instead be putting their resources into making sure troops who have fought are properly looked after on their return. There are questions to be asked about compensation for injured troops, about what benefits they are entitled to, whether they can get work, what their pensions are worth. I’m sure many people would be shocked to hear the answers to some of those questions.

A common response for anyone unable to get help while suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or other mental health problems is to self-medicate by taking illegal drugs. That can all too easily lead to a cycle of shoplifting, for example, to get enough money for more drugs, and of course it isn’t long before someone who should have been helped has ended up in the prison system.

If we really cared about people and their welfare, then shouldn’t we be putting the vast resources being spent on keeping troops and arms in Afghanistan into the welfare of the people the Government of the UK has responsibility for?

What price war?

I recently obtained figures which go some way to shedding some more light on the true horrors of war. The death toll in Afghanistan has become a familiar story in the news. At the time of writing, 379 UK soldiers have died during operations since the invasion of 2001. The death toll for UK soldiers in Afghanistan has long since passed that of the Falklands war which is remarkable given that the early years were relatively quiet – it was 2004 before the first UK soldier died following hostile action from the Taleban and it was another year-and-a-half before the next soldier died. Given the disproportionate number of soldiers Wales contributes to the UK Army, the bloodiness of the war in Afghanistan is a particular concern here. There are countless examples of civilians dying in their droves as well.

The death toll, as shocking as it is for civilians and combatants alike, only tells part of the story. For every death, there are many, many others being seriously injured or maimed. Here are figures showing how this has been the case for UK armed service personnel or civilians working for UK armed forces in Afghanistan. The information, obtained through the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA), shows the number of ‘very seriously injured or seriously injured’ on operations in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2009 surpassed 300. This was nearly double the amount of the casualties sustained during the eight previous years combined. In 2001, when Afghanistan was first invaded by coalition forces, no military personnel or civilians from the UK were recorded as being very seriously or seriously wounded on operation there that year.

Figures from the same source on the number of amputations carried out on members of the armed forces reinforce the previous statistics. Between 2009 and 2010, the number of “surviving UK Service personnel” having a “traumatic or surgical amputation, partial or complete, for either upper or lower limbs” rose by 40% from 55 in 2009 to 79 last year. Of the 79 people undergoing amputations last year, 39 were identified as “significant multiple amputees.” The figures show that in 2006 the amputations numbered seven.

Last year alone there were three people every week, on average, working for the armed forces sustaining a serious or very serious injury in Afghanistan. The number of serious or very serious injured service personnel between January and the end of July is 47 which actually represents a decline in the rate at which soldiers are being seriously injured when compared to the previous two years. However, not many would argue this figure is acceptable.

From the very beginning Plaid Cymru has opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have also campaigned for better support to be given to ex-soldiers suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health disorders. Not only have the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq proved to be very costly to human life but also to the public finances. Will the mainstream political parties in the UK now accept they were wrong to support interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan and that those mistakes have been compounded by not having any clear exit strategy in either case?

Ron Davies for Plaid

This is the full text of Ron Davies’s speech in the Plaid election rally to support Penri James to be the next MP for Ceredigion, in Aberystwyth on Saturday. With thanks to Alun Williams.

“Thank you very much. I was tempted to say, “Good Morning. And it is a very good morning in Aberystwyth".

“I am not going to try to attempt to speak with the degree of hwyl and local conviction that we’ve just had from my very good friend Dafydd Iwan. But the message I bring to you is no less heartfelt. I’m here today to support Penri.

“I hope that people throughout the length and breadth of Wales will think very seriously about the way that they will cast their vote on May 6th. We have not been well served by our governments in Westminster. We have had 40 years of political consensus which has put the interests of London at the heart of all of our decision- making. And that political consensus is shared between those people that Dafydd described as 'those three men'.

“The Conservative Party, unfortunately the Labour Party, and the Lib Dems have shared that political consensus, that what matters in Britain is the future and prosperity of that square mile in the city of London. And when you have a political consensus without any real challenge to the priorities you have a country descending into the country that we see today.

“We’ve had the worst economic collapse that any of us have seen. Following from that we have political corruption on an appalling scale in London. We've seen a growth of inequality right throughout the length of Britain. And we’ve seen the British people led by a British government into overseas military adventures when we’re killing innocent men, women and children in the name of the British state and in the name of the Americans.

“Now that is the consequence of having a political consensus. Like me, you’ll have watched some of the debate on television. And they talk about change - “We are the party of change”. The only difference is the colour of their ties. They shouldn’t call themselves parties. They should say, “The Blue Tie Party”, or, “The Red Tie party”, or, “The Orange Tie Party”. They don’t offer any difference.

“This election offers us in Wales the chance to send a very clear message. Every vote which is cast in this election for Plaid Cymru is a vote cast on behalf of the people of Wales. Every vote cast for Plaid Cymru candidates will be noted in London. In terms of politics, in terms of what we offer, it is now only Plaid Cymru which can challenge that political consensus.

“If you want to affect those issues that are concerning us, if you want to change the structure of politics, if you want to change the quality of democracy, if you want to bring equality, if you want to make sure that communities know where they stand and have secure futures, there’s only one thing to do on May 6th. And that is to support your Plaid Cymru candidate.

“Penri, I’m delighted to be here. I wish you every success. I have no doubt at all that you and many, many other Plaid Cymru candidates are going to be successful on May 6th. And Wales will be better for it.

Boycotting Mrs Windsor

For the third time now, I will not be attending the official opening of the Senedd by the English monarch which is due to take place on Tuesday.

I am a republican. I am a Welsh republican, but as a socialist I support the calls of republicans in other parts of the UK for the abolition of the 'British' monarchy.

Writing shortly after the coronation of the present monarch, DJ Davies wrote:

"We should bear in mind that the Queen is not a symbol as is often claimed, but the personification and incarnation of the English state, its history, its tradition, even its religion...Note how the Queen is surrounded by military pomp, how she is represented as the owner of the armed forces and how she is required to inspect them on all occasions of national or imperial importance."

DJ goes on to argue for a Welsh monarchy - his 1953 article is entitled 'Wales must have a king'. This is where DJ Davies and I part company.

In the modern Wales people should not be subjects, we should be citizens. The monarchy represents a hereditary class system which perpetuates inequality. The royals are an unaccountable, privileged elite allowed and encouraged by government to expand its wealth through the patronage of the civil list, the honours system and the land assets their ancestors pillaged from common people. The income they can expect to make from the Crown Estates land in Wales in future years is money that could be well used by the cash-strapped Welsh government.

Unlike all other spenders of taxpayers money, the royals are under no obligation to hand their accounts over for scrutiny to the National Audit Office and are they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Deference and sycophancy are expected (what is that bowing all about?) and happily given by most media outlets, while a huge numbers of people are employed in a PR team to promote the 'brand'. After quite a few years of limited success, they seem to have achieved quite a turn around in more recent times.

We like to think we live in a meritocracy. We don't. If we did, all children would be able to aspire to be head of state. Under a monarchal system, they can't. You can only be born into the monarchy. It's random. The democratic argument in favour of republicanism is best summed up by Imran Khan, Human Rights lawyer on the Republic website who says:

"One of the notions of a democracy is that you elect those in power and you can remove them if they abuse it. Fundamentally, it's about accountability."

Since I want her gone, I'll be elsewhere when she comes to open our Senedd.

A message from Cardiff Stop the War Coalition

The passing of the milestone of the 200th soldier to be killed in Afghanistan is no less tragic for being all too predictable. The Stop the War Coalition has mourned the death of every soldier sent into a war which we - along with the majority of people in Britain - regard as both unjustified and unwinnable. Gordon Brown's insistence that sending British troops to die in Afghanistan is "the only way to make Britain safe" sounds ever more threadbare each time he and his ministers repeat it after the announcement of yet another senseless loss of life.

Following the death of over 200 soldiers in Afghanistan Cardiff Stop the War Coalition & CND Cymru have called two protests to call for the troops to be brought home & an end to the war in Afghanistan.

Tomorrow (Monday 17 August) 5 - 6.30 pm

Saturday 22 August - 12 Noon (Naming of the Dead Ceremony)

Both events will be at the Nye Bevan Statue, Queen Street

PLEASE FORWARD THIS INFO TOO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE - AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! BRING PLACARDS, BANNERS, PEOPLE ETC.

Thousands of Afghans have been killed since the invasion in 2001. Groups of civilians, such as wedding parties, are regularly killed by the occupying forces. 200 British soldiers have now been killed. Millions of Afghans are refugees. Senior diplomats and military officers admit that the occupation forces cannot win. Despite this the USA and Britain are escalating the war, by sending more troops to kill and be killed, and by extending the killing fields into Pakistan. The argument that soldiers are being killed because they don't have enough helicopters is a smokescreen. They are being killed because they are an occupying army in Afghanistan. The US army has plenty of helicopters – they are getting killed as well. It's time to bring the troops home now.

THE TRUE FACE OF NATO DEMOCRACY IN AFGHANISTAN : A law that legistimises rape, lets Afghan husbands starve their wives if they refuse to obey their sexual demands and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work or leave the house, has been made law as part of ex-CIA employee President Karzai's re-election strategy to buy fundamentalist votes in the Afghan election.

Adam Johannes
Secretary
Cardiff Stop the War Coalition
www.stopwar.org.uk
07940108146

And Adam Price has this week laid an EDM calling for a fixed timetable for troop withdrawl.

Message from Mark Perryman

"They stole my land, burnt my olive trees, destroyed my house, took my water, imprisoned my father, killed my mother, starved us all, humiliated us all. But I am to blame : I shot a rocket back. So they stole more of my land, burnt my olive trees, destroyed my house, took my water, bombed my country..."

Featuring words partly inspired by one of the hundreds of hand-written anonymous placards carried at the 3rd Jan demonstration in London the Palestine 09 design expresses vividly the cycle of despair that has turned the tiny Gaza strip into a war zone of Israeli reprisals using its overwhelming military might. JUST £16.99! Helping to raise funds for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Available from www.philosophyfootball.com