New UK Army Chief Faces Two Battles: Taliban and Resources - Alistair MacDonald, Wall Street Journal.
When Gen. Sir David Richards takes over as head of the British army on Friday he inherits two battlefields: the war in Afghanistan, and a battle for resources between the UK's military and government. On both counts Gen. Richards, a respected soldier who earned his stripes in the jungles of Sierra Leone, faces tough challenges. As the second-biggest contributor of North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Afghanistan, the UK has suffered high casualties, sapping public support for the war at home.
One reason for that, according to some critics in the UK, is that the army is hampered by a lack of resources after decades of cutbacks by Downing Street. Gen. Richards may soon hit the same quandary his predecessors struggled with: trying to play the role of a superpower with a military that hasn't been funded to play that part since World War II.
The UK has found it difficult to adapt its military hardware, within a budget, for conflicts that have morphed from the Cold War to peacekeeping operations to insurgency over the past 20 years. That problem will get harder as the UK faces budget cuts to battle its record debt, a situation that is heightening tensions between military and political leaders...
More at the Wall Street Journal.