Political Impact
British casualties in Afghanistan have had a major political impact, although not as significant as the impact of British casualties in Iraq. This is mainly because the three main British political parties (Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) all support British operations in the country. However British casualties in the middle of 2006 did lead to the government's decision to reinforce the British contingent.
Toward the end of 2008 the numbers of troops being killed or seriously injured while travelling in lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers in both Iraq and Afghanistan raised questions in the United Kingdom Parliament about the suitability of the vehicles for use in these theatres. Members of the public and families of killed and injured servicemen have campaigned about perceived problems with these vehicles including an online petition to the office of the Prime Minister.
Read more about this topic: British Forces Casualties In Afghanistan Since 2001
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or impact:
“Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.”
—James Madison (17511836)
“Television does not dominate or insist, as movies do. It is not sensational, but taken for granted. Insistence would destroy it, for its message is so dire that it relies on being the background drone that counters silence. For most of us, it is something turned on and off as we would the light. It is a service, not a luxury or a thing of choice.”
—David Thomson, U.S. film historian. America in the Dark: The Impact of Hollywood Films on American Culture, ch. 8, William Morrow (1977)