Friendly fire

The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, is off to see our troops in South Lebanon on June 22nd. It will be his first time there and the official purpose is to fly the flag and boost morale. Some observers are a bit more cynical, however. They see the visit as the start of his canvass for the next election. Thousands of soldiers live in his North Kildare constituency. Others see it as an attempt to repair relations with the force in general. The Army tends to blame him, as much as the Minister for Defence, Michael Smith, for the recent defence White Paper recommending cutbacks of up to 1,000 troops. It is already being implemented. So Charlie should be aware as he enjoys Army hospitality at Camp Shamrock that there is still a lot of flak around and he should watch his back.