Texas Labor Against the War

LONDON – Most Britons believe the increasingly bloody war in Afghanistan is “unwinnable” and want troops pulled out, an opinion poll said Tuesday, as more soldiers’ bodies were flown home.

Mourners gather to pay their respects as a convoy of hearses containing the bodies of four British soldiers killed in Afghanistan passes through the village of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. (AFP/Carl de Souza)

The dead servicemen were honoured a day after Britain announced the end of a major offensive in southern Afghanistan and outlined a change of strategy following a sharp spike in deaths.Foreign Secretary David Miliband signalled Monday that Britain would back talking to moderate Taliban representatives in a bid to isolate militant insurgents who have killed 191 British troops since 2001.

A total of 22 have been killed this month alone after British forces went on the offensive in Operation Panther’s Claw, just weeks before crucial presidential elections.

Four more fallen soldiers’ bodies were flown home to RAF Lyneham, southwest England, before a solemn procession through the nearby village of Wootton Bassett.

The ceremonies in the town — which has become a focus of grief and support for British troops — came after two more soldiers were killed Monday in Helmand province, the front line in the battle with the Taliban.

The surge in deaths has sparked a political row over resources for troops in Afghanistan, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown forced to defend Britain’s strategy after calls for more equipment and more boots on the ground.

But according to the opinion poll in the Independent newspaper Tuesday, more than half of Britons now think the war in Afghanistan is “unwinnable” and want to see an immediate troop withdrawal.

for more, go to http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?id=19965