UK defense ministry blocked warning that Britain faces Afghan defeat

The British Ministry of Defense has suppressed a report which warned that British troops are facing "strategic defeat" in Afghanistan. The decision to block publication of the critical academic paper in the army's in-house journal coincides with a scathing attack by a senior US military officer on the "arrogance" of UK tactics in Iraq. Colonel Peter Mansoor, who worked closely with General David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq until a year ago, said Britain's political and military leaders had "abdicated responsibility" in Basra by failing to protect local people. Mansoor's comments are made in the latest edition of the British Army Review which demands the "brutal truth" about the UK's shortcomings in guerrilla warfare. Sir David Richards, the new head of the army, favors a public debate so that lessons can be learned from previous military mistakes. However, critics believe that mandarins at the MoD have deliberately been less open to spare the blushes of politicians.