To Serve One's Country - 100 Dead in Afghanistan

The sombre news reached our little allotment here in South Gloucestershire in the Dis-United Kingdom via the medium of Nosher's little transistor radio.
Three more young service personnel killed in Afghanistan. The total has now reached 100, and the death rate is now higher than it was at the start of the war. The numbers seriously injured are, of course, considerably higher.
Nosher and I stood in silence for a minute or so, spontaneous mark of respect for those brave men and women prepared to serve their country in the armed forces, especially those whose lot it was to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
Later, as we sat in our old deckchairs in the shade beside Nosher's allotment shed, our conversation turned inevitably to the issue of whether the death of our countrymen and women was worthwhile .
'About the only thing to be said in favour of the Afghanistan war is that it was sanctioned by the UN' Nosher remarked 'which, technically, means in complies with international law. On the other hand it was completely pointless, immoral and unwinnable when it started, and the same applies today.'
'There is a rumour' I said 'that some hawks in the US saw 9-11 as an ideal opportunity to lay the political foundations for an oil pipeline from Khazakstan to the north to Karachi in Pakistan, which would considerably reduce the US dependance upon oil from Saudi Arabia, something the US is very keen to achieve.'
'I've heard that too' Nosher replied 'but if that is the case, it makes the death of our armed forces personnel even more tragic - dying for what? Someone else's oil? It's certainly not about freedom and democracy. The ordinary Afghans have got neither, and I suspect never will have.'
We sat for a few moments gazing over our little world, the peace broken only by birdsong, as all our plants in their neat rows strained upwards towards the sun in a natural display of harmony and unity of purpose.
'The question I find myself asking' I murmured, as if someone might overhear 'is whether this country is worth fighting and dieing for any longer?'
'Well, speaking as one who served Queen and country in the 1950s' Nosher muttered 'and looking around at the idiots who now rule over us and the mess they've made of things, I find myself wondering the very same thing.'
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Best wishes and take care out there.