By JOHN COLES
Published: The Sun 10/03/10
A CORONER slammed the Ministry of Defence over equipment shortages and inadequate training yesterday - as he ruled the first woman soldier to die in Afghanistan and three comrades were unlawfully killed.
Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, was chasing escaped Taliban prisoners in 2008 when a 100kg mine wrecked her Snatch Land Rover.
She died with SAS reservists Corporal Sean Reeve, 28, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Trooper Paul Stout, 31.
After a six-day inquest, Coroner David Masters demanded the MoD examine the Army's shortage of Ebex bomb detectors and armoured vehicles.
And he said: "There was an inadequacy of training for this unit.
Killed in action ... from left, Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, Trooper Paul Stout and Lance Corporal Richard Larkin
"The correct proportion of metal detectors must be reviewed. Snatch Land Rovers were not the preferred vehicle for the operation. There was significant disquiet about those vehicles being the only resource available."
The inquest in Trowbridge, Wilts, had been told by the commanding SAS officer, known as Colonel A, that he repeatedly asked for better-equipped WMIK Land Rovers but was declined.
At least 37 have died in vulnerable Snatch vehicles - dubbed "mobile coffins" - since 2005.
The Coroner pledged to investigate the supply and adequacy of its replacement, the Snatch Vixen.
The inquest heard a ditch where the mine was hidden was not properly searched with detectors. Only one soldier had been trained to use one.
Adam Wilson, solicitor for two of the families, said after the hearing: "We hope the MoD heeds the recommendations."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2886221/No-equipment-no-training-no-chance-coroners-devastating-verdict-on-MoD-after-Corporal-Sarah-Bryant-and-three-comrades-killed-in-Afghanistan.html#ixzz0hnmnXn8H
Posted by Michelle Nielsen
Showing posts with label Political Opinions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Political Opinions. Show all posts
Monday, 15 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Sunday, 7 March 2010
No Legs Hero: Ill go back to Battle Zone
By ALASTAIR TAYLOR
Published: The Sun 06 Mar 2010
BRAVE James Simpson wants to return to fight in Afghanistan - despite a bomb taking both his legs and part of a hand.
Lance Corporal James, 23, is already walking on prosthetic legs ahead of schedule.
And yesterday he told of his wish to rejoin his comrades on the front line. James, of Guiseley, West Yorks, said: "I love Afghanistan and I would go back tomorrow.
"I enjoy being a soldier. Just because of my injuries my life is not over. It's a new challenge. I am the same person. I lost my legs but I haven't lost my marbles."
James, who met Prince Harry during operations in Afghanistan but didn't recognise him, had a royal reunion at the England-Wales rugby match at Twickenham last month.
He was horrifically injured when a bomb exploded while on patrol last November. His life was saved by colleagues. But James then had to come to terms with losing his limbs and battle an infection because the bomb was smeared with human faeces by the Taliban.
The sniper for First Battalion Yorkshire Regiment had set himself the target of his 24th birthday in July to be walking again. He has also found love with long-standing friend Hannah Naughton, 23. Romance blossomed when she began visiting him during his recovery.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2880984/No-legs-hero-Ill-go-back-to-battle-zone.html#ixzz0hmtkHu0e
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Published: The Sun 06 Mar 2010
BRAVE James Simpson wants to return to fight in Afghanistan - despite a bomb taking both his legs and part of a hand.
Lance Corporal James, 23, is already walking on prosthetic legs ahead of schedule.
And yesterday he told of his wish to rejoin his comrades on the front line. James, of Guiseley, West Yorks, said: "I love Afghanistan and I would go back tomorrow.
"I enjoy being a soldier. Just because of my injuries my life is not over. It's a new challenge. I am the same person. I lost my legs but I haven't lost my marbles."
James, who met Prince Harry during operations in Afghanistan but didn't recognise him, had a royal reunion at the England-Wales rugby match at Twickenham last month.
He was horrifically injured when a bomb exploded while on patrol last November. His life was saved by colleagues. But James then had to come to terms with losing his limbs and battle an infection because the bomb was smeared with human faeces by the Taliban.
The sniper for First Battalion Yorkshire Regiment had set himself the target of his 24th birthday in July to be walking again. He has also found love with long-standing friend Hannah Naughton, 23. Romance blossomed when she began visiting him during his recovery.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2880984/No-legs-hero-Ill-go-back-to-battle-zone.html#ixzz0hmtkHu0e
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Saturday, 6 March 2010
The Iraq Inquiry.. Brown: It wasn't me
By TOM NEWTON DUNN, Political Editor
Published: 06 Mar 2010
GORDON Brown yesterday repeatedly denied ANY blame for the Iraq war and the failings that cost British lives.
The Prime Minister's steadfast refusal to take any responsibility in his evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry provoked fury from the military and grieving families last night.
Prompting the most outrage was Mr Brown's suggestion that Army commanders - NOT him - were at fault over needless deaths in poorly protected Snatch Land Rovers. Lord Guthrie, former Chief of the Defence Staff, told The Sun later: "It is astonishing and offensive to suggest that if officers had had a choice, they would have chosen the Snatch Land Rover."
Mr Brown said he was involved in top-level talks before the Iraq invasion in 2003 - when he was Chancellor - but wanted diplomacy to prevail. When it came to the crunch, he was NOT part of the decision making.
And mistakes in the woeful preparations for nation building of a destroyed Iraq after the war were NOT his either, he said.
He only expressed "regret" that he could not persuade the Americans to do more.
Rubbishing then US President George Bush's post-war reconstruction plans, Mr Brown said: "I never subscribed to the neoconservative position that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight, liberty or democracy could be conjured up."
But he insisted he wrote a blank cheque for Mr Blair to take Britain to war.
Mr Brown's four hours of evidence was the first time he had faced a public grilling over his role on Iraq and its aftermath.
He was heckled by anti-war protesters on his arrival at the hearing, at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster.
After expressing his regret at the loss of 179 British military lives in Iraq, he told the panel of five that the Armed Forces had been given everything they wanted for the conflict.
He admitted for the first time he put the Ministry of Defence under a cash squeeze in the autumn of 2003 - six months after the mission.
But he said: "Every request that military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down."
Mr Brown was asked to respond to a series of questions tabled by families of soldiers - up to 37 - killed in the Snatch fleet. He said:
I have to stress, it's not for me to make the military decisions on the ground about the use of particular vehicles.
It's not for me to make the decision, that's for the military themselves.
But what I can say is that when we were asked to provide the money and resources for additional equipment, we made that money available.
That flew in the faces of senior military figures who had already given evidence to the inquiry.
In January, General Lord Walker told the inquiry that all five of Britain's military chiefs threatened to resign in protest at the cuts, brought in just months after Iraq was liberated in 2003.
Former Army head General Sir Richard Dannatt said last night: "Gordon Brown bears responsibility, claiming credit for increasing funding when actually there was a reduction in value."
Susan Smith, mother of one dead soldier, said: "It's very low of Gordon Brown to blame commanders. He was trying to shift the blame."
Her son, Pte Phillip Hewett, 21, was killed with two comrades when a bomb hit a Snatch in Iraq in July 2005.
Mrs Smith added: "Commanders had no options, they couldn't use anything else."
Tory Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "There have been consistent allegations that, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown was so unsympathetic to the Armed Forces that he denied them what they needed."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2881055/Gordon-Brown-ducks-blame-at-Iraq-Inquiry.html#ixzz0hmql0ChD
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Published: 06 Mar 2010
GORDON Brown yesterday repeatedly denied ANY blame for the Iraq war and the failings that cost British lives.
The Prime Minister's steadfast refusal to take any responsibility in his evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry provoked fury from the military and grieving families last night.
Prompting the most outrage was Mr Brown's suggestion that Army commanders - NOT him - were at fault over needless deaths in poorly protected Snatch Land Rovers. Lord Guthrie, former Chief of the Defence Staff, told The Sun later: "It is astonishing and offensive to suggest that if officers had had a choice, they would have chosen the Snatch Land Rover."
Mr Brown said he was involved in top-level talks before the Iraq invasion in 2003 - when he was Chancellor - but wanted diplomacy to prevail. When it came to the crunch, he was NOT part of the decision making.
And mistakes in the woeful preparations for nation building of a destroyed Iraq after the war were NOT his either, he said.
He only expressed "regret" that he could not persuade the Americans to do more.
Rubbishing then US President George Bush's post-war reconstruction plans, Mr Brown said: "I never subscribed to the neoconservative position that somehow, at the barrel of a gun, overnight, liberty or democracy could be conjured up."
But he insisted he wrote a blank cheque for Mr Blair to take Britain to war.
Mr Brown's four hours of evidence was the first time he had faced a public grilling over his role on Iraq and its aftermath.
He was heckled by anti-war protesters on his arrival at the hearing, at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster.
After expressing his regret at the loss of 179 British military lives in Iraq, he told the panel of five that the Armed Forces had been given everything they wanted for the conflict.
He admitted for the first time he put the Ministry of Defence under a cash squeeze in the autumn of 2003 - six months after the mission.
But he said: "Every request that military commanders made to us for equipment was answered. No request was ever turned down."
Mr Brown was asked to respond to a series of questions tabled by families of soldiers - up to 37 - killed in the Snatch fleet. He said:
I have to stress, it's not for me to make the military decisions on the ground about the use of particular vehicles.
It's not for me to make the decision, that's for the military themselves.
But what I can say is that when we were asked to provide the money and resources for additional equipment, we made that money available.
That flew in the faces of senior military figures who had already given evidence to the inquiry.
In January, General Lord Walker told the inquiry that all five of Britain's military chiefs threatened to resign in protest at the cuts, brought in just months after Iraq was liberated in 2003.
Former Army head General Sir Richard Dannatt said last night: "Gordon Brown bears responsibility, claiming credit for increasing funding when actually there was a reduction in value."
Susan Smith, mother of one dead soldier, said: "It's very low of Gordon Brown to blame commanders. He was trying to shift the blame."
Her son, Pte Phillip Hewett, 21, was killed with two comrades when a bomb hit a Snatch in Iraq in July 2005.
Mrs Smith added: "Commanders had no options, they couldn't use anything else."
Tory Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "There have been consistent allegations that, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown was so unsympathetic to the Armed Forces that he denied them what they needed."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2881055/Gordon-Brown-ducks-blame-at-Iraq-Inquiry.html#ixzz0hmql0ChD
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Friday, 5 March 2010
Shot between eyes but pilot saves 20
By DUNCAN LARCOMBE, Defence Editor
Published: The Sun 05 Mar 2010
A HERO Chinook pilot was shot between the eyes by a Taliban bullet - but flew on and saved all 20 aboard.
Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune, 28, had flown in to pick up casualties as a firefight raged between American and Afghan forces and heavily-armed rebels near Garmsir in Helmand Province.
He circled until troops reported incoming fire had calmed down. But as Ian flew in the helicopter came under attack - which continued as casualties were being loaded. Then as he lifted off Ian was shot.
A bullet hit a metal rail on the front of his helmet which is used to attach night vision goggles.
The round then penetrated his helmet hitting him between the eyes. It knocked his head back and caused severe bleeding.
More bullets followed, hitting the Chinook's controls and shutting down the stabilisation system.
But with blood pouring into his eyes, Ian battled with the controls to stop the chopper from spiralling out of control.
Then with the aircraft lurching from side to side he continued flying for eight minutes before landing at Camp Bastion. Ian was taken to the field hospital and treated for his wound.
It is the first time in the nine-year war in Afghanistan a pilot has been shot while in the air.
One senior RAF source said: "This could have become one of the worst incidents of the conflict.
"If the bullet had hit the pilot a millimetre lower, those on board wouldn't have stood a chance.
"And had it not been for the skill of the pilot the result would have been the same."
TV's Mike, 41, who was with a crew from the Discovery Channel, said: "The courage and heroism of the pilot was beyond belief."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2879290/Pilot-was-shot-between-the-eyes-and-still-flew-to-safety.html#ixzz0hmsGtVED
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Published: The Sun 05 Mar 2010
A HERO Chinook pilot was shot between the eyes by a Taliban bullet - but flew on and saved all 20 aboard.
Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune, 28, had flown in to pick up casualties as a firefight raged between American and Afghan forces and heavily-armed rebels near Garmsir in Helmand Province.
He circled until troops reported incoming fire had calmed down. But as Ian flew in the helicopter came under attack - which continued as casualties were being loaded. Then as he lifted off Ian was shot.
A bullet hit a metal rail on the front of his helmet which is used to attach night vision goggles.
The round then penetrated his helmet hitting him between the eyes. It knocked his head back and caused severe bleeding.
More bullets followed, hitting the Chinook's controls and shutting down the stabilisation system.
But with blood pouring into his eyes, Ian battled with the controls to stop the chopper from spiralling out of control.
Then with the aircraft lurching from side to side he continued flying for eight minutes before landing at Camp Bastion. Ian was taken to the field hospital and treated for his wound.
It is the first time in the nine-year war in Afghanistan a pilot has been shot while in the air.
One senior RAF source said: "This could have become one of the worst incidents of the conflict.
"If the bullet had hit the pilot a millimetre lower, those on board wouldn't have stood a chance.
"And had it not been for the skill of the pilot the result would have been the same."
TV's Mike, 41, who was with a crew from the Discovery Channel, said: "The courage and heroism of the pilot was beyond belief."
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2879290/Pilot-was-shot-between-the-eyes-and-still-flew-to-safety.html#ixzz0hmsGtVED
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Friday, 12 February 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Iraq inquiry: Short says cabinet misled on war legality
Tony Blair's cabinet was "misled" into thinking the war with Iraq was legal, ex-International Development Secretary Clare Short has told the UK's inquiry.
She said Attorney General Lord Goldsmith had been "leaned on" to change his advice before the invasion.
Mr Blair "and his mates" decided war was necessary, and "everything was done on a wing and a prayer", Ms Short said.
She quit the cabinet two months after the March 2003 invasion, in protest at planning for the war's aftermath.
In her evidence to the Iraq inquiry, during which she was highly critical of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, she said the cabinet had not been a "decision-making body" and called Parliament a "rubber stamp".
Ms Short, who was given a round of applause after her three-hour appearance, added that she had been "conned" into staying on as a minister until May 2003, despite her misgivings about the war.
'Want to be loyal'
The attorney general provisionally advised Mr Blair in January that year that it would be unlawful to invade Iraq without a further United Nations Security Council resolution.
But he changed his mind a month later after being persuaded to talk to senior US government lawyers and Britain's ambassador to the UN, Sir Jeremy Greenstock.
A definitive statement circulated at cabinet on 17 March 2003, three days before the war began.
Ms Short said there was no suggestion given that he had had any legal doubts, and said that any discussion of the legal advice was halted at that pre-war cabinet meeting.
 | CLARE SHORT'S MAIN CLAIMS Cabinet misled on legality of war Iraq intelligence not given to UK aid officials Ms Short persuaded to stay on with promise of UN involvement in reconstruction of Iraq Cabinet sidelined and Parliament a rubber stamp in decision to go to war Blair arguments on Saddam threat and possible terror links "historically inaccurate" |
She had been "shocked" by the attorney general's advice was so late but was "jeered at" to be quiet by other ministers when she asked why.
Ms Short said that, when she repeated the question to Lord Goldsmith, he had replied: "Oh, it takes me a long time to make my mind up."
In light of the attorney general's "doubts and his changes of opinion" that have since emerged, Ms Short said: "I think for the attorney general to come and say there's unequivocal legal authority to go war was misleading."
She said: "I think he misled the cabinet. He certainly misled me, but people let it through."
Ms Short said that, after the failure to secure a second UN resolution, the government had put out "untrue" claims that France had vetoed it.
But she added that "I believed them at the time. You don't want to disbelieve your prime minister in the run-up to war and you want to believe the leader of your party. You want to be loyal".
Asked why she did not resign earlier, like her cabinet colleague Robin Cook, Ms Short said: "I was conned."
'Much better'
She told the inquiry panel that Mr Blair had promised the UN a strong role in Iraq's reconstruction and further action to resolve the Israel-Palestine situation.
Ms Short said: "I thought that if we got a Palestinian state and a UN lead on reconstruction, that will be much better...
"I took a lot of flak for it. I still think, if we had done those things, it would have been a heck of a lot better."
Ms Short also told the inquiry that she "was seeing the intelligence" to do with Iraq during the earlier stages of preparations for a possible invasion.
But, in late, 2002 she added: "We asked for a briefing... This just didn't come and didn't come... it became clear there was some sort of block on communications."
Ms Short, who now sits in the Commons as an independent MP, eventually quit the government over the lack of UN involvement in the reconstruction effort.
Mr Blair told the inquiry last week that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been a "monster" who, he believed, "threatened not just the region but the world".
He said British and US attitudes towards the threat posed by Iraq "changed dramatically" after the terror attacks on 11 September 2001, since they highlighted the dangers of potential links between failed states in possession of weapons of mass destruction and terrorist groups.
'Difficult to handle'
But Ms Short told the inquiry Mr Blair's evidence was "historically inaccurate", adding: "There was no evidence of any kind of an escalation of threats."
She also said: "We could have gone more slowly and carefully and not have had a totally destabilised and angry Iraq."
"The American people were misled to suggest that al-Qaeda had links to Saddam Hussein.
"Everybody knows that is untrue - that he had absolutely links, no sympathy, al-Qaeda were nowhere near Iraq until after the invasion and the disorder that came from that."
During an earlier hearing, former head of the armed forces Lord Boyce suggested officials from Ms Short's department had refused to co-operate fully in the immediate aftermath of the invasion because of their opposition to the war.
Mr Blair's former spokesman, Alastair Campbell, told the inquiry that Ms Short had been "difficult to handle" in the run-up to the invasion and suggested there was a fear she might leak things she did not agree with.
But, in his evidence, former Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull said such criticism was unfair and Ms Short and other more independent voices in cabinet had been effectively sidelined.
Hilary Benn, who succeeded Ms Short as international development secretary, will also give evidence on Tuesday.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8492526.stm
Posted By: Lottie Mather
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Protesters and police clash in Nottingham
Published: BBC Nottingham News Online 05/12/09
Police have clashed with members of the English Defence League during a protest in Nottingham city centre.
Some 500 demonstrators from the EDL marched through the city centre shouting: "We want our country back." Earlier there was a stand-off between the EDL and Unite Against Fascism, who held a counter protest in the city.
Police mounted on horses were forced to hold back some of the demonstrators with batons and punches were thrown at police on the cordons. Many of the EDL demonstrators had their faces covered with hooded tops and scarves and shouted anti-Islamic slogans.
'No surrender'
Other protesters had Union Jacks and St George's flags which they either waved or wrapped around their shoulders as a police officer barked instructions at the crowd from a helicopter circling overhead.
Some of the group waved placards which read: "Protect Women, No To Sharia" and "No Surrender".
The EDL insists it is not a racist organisation and has no links to the BNP and is simply standing against the threat of Islamic extremism.
"If we don't have a protest then it's letting them come into town and say 'this is our place for the day', which it isn't " Michael Vickery Unite Against Fascism
A spokesman said they had planned the demo for Saturday as the Second Battalion the Mercian Regiment were holding a homecoming parade in Nottingham following a recent tour of Afghanistan.
Earlier the EDL and UAF exchanged hostile words in the city's Old Market Square.
Four people had been arrested for minor public order offences, police said. As the Mercian Regiment paraded through the city in the morning thousands of Christmas shoppers gathered to watch the 500 troops.
'Anti-British'
The homecoming parade followed a six-month tour of duty in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, where the regiment lost five soldiers and dozens of its men were injured.
A 43-year-old EDL member, a serving soldier who did not want to be named, said: "We came here to support our lads, and the UAF and other militants have turned up.
"I think it's disgusting. I look at their protest and there's a Pakistani flag flying with a Muslim symbol. Their protest isn't against the EDL, they're protesting against the troops and it's anti-British.
"They haven't got one Union Jack or St George's Flag. I'm not a fascist, I'm not a Nazi but I am British."
Michael Vickery, from the UAF, said: "It's not good enough not to have any kind of a response (to the EDL presence) because basically, if we don't have a protest then it's letting them come into town and say 'this is our place for the day', which it isn't, it belongs to everyone in Nottingham."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8396994.stm
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Police have clashed with members of the English Defence League during a protest in Nottingham city centre.
Some 500 demonstrators from the EDL marched through the city centre shouting: "We want our country back." Earlier there was a stand-off between the EDL and Unite Against Fascism, who held a counter protest in the city.
Police mounted on horses were forced to hold back some of the demonstrators with batons and punches were thrown at police on the cordons. Many of the EDL demonstrators had their faces covered with hooded tops and scarves and shouted anti-Islamic slogans.
'No surrender'
Other protesters had Union Jacks and St George's flags which they either waved or wrapped around their shoulders as a police officer barked instructions at the crowd from a helicopter circling overhead.
Some of the group waved placards which read: "Protect Women, No To Sharia" and "No Surrender".
The EDL insists it is not a racist organisation and has no links to the BNP and is simply standing against the threat of Islamic extremism.
"If we don't have a protest then it's letting them come into town and say 'this is our place for the day', which it isn't " Michael Vickery Unite Against Fascism
A spokesman said they had planned the demo for Saturday as the Second Battalion the Mercian Regiment were holding a homecoming parade in Nottingham following a recent tour of Afghanistan.
Earlier the EDL and UAF exchanged hostile words in the city's Old Market Square.
Four people had been arrested for minor public order offences, police said. As the Mercian Regiment paraded through the city in the morning thousands of Christmas shoppers gathered to watch the 500 troops.
'Anti-British'
The homecoming parade followed a six-month tour of duty in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, where the regiment lost five soldiers and dozens of its men were injured.
A 43-year-old EDL member, a serving soldier who did not want to be named, said: "We came here to support our lads, and the UAF and other militants have turned up.
"I think it's disgusting. I look at their protest and there's a Pakistani flag flying with a Muslim symbol. Their protest isn't against the EDL, they're protesting against the troops and it's anti-British.
"They haven't got one Union Jack or St George's Flag. I'm not a fascist, I'm not a Nazi but I am British."
Michael Vickery, from the UAF, said: "It's not good enough not to have any kind of a response (to the EDL presence) because basically, if we don't have a protest then it's letting them come into town and say 'this is our place for the day', which it isn't, it belongs to everyone in Nottingham."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8396994.stm
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Summary of the Iraq War files
Published: Sunday Telegraph 22 Nov 2009
On the eve of the Chilcot inquiry into Britain’s involvement in the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, The Sunday Telegraph has obtained hundreds of pages of secret Government reports on “lessons learnt” which shed new light on “significant shortcomings” at all levels.
They include full transcripts of extraordinarily frank classified interviews in which British Army commanders vent their frustration and anger with ministers and Whitehall officials.
DAY ONE
Iraq report: Secret papers reveal blunders and concealment
The “appalling” errors that contributed to Britain’s failure in Iraq are disclosed in the most detailed and damning set of leaks to emerge on the conflict.
The reports disclose that:
Tony Blair, the former prime minister, misled MPs and the public throughout 2002 over the timing of Britain's military planning.
The Foreign Office unit to plan for postwar Iraq was set up only in late February, 2003, three weeks before the war started.
The plans “contained no detail once Baghdad had fallen”, causing a “notable loss of momentum” which was exploited by insurgents.
Iraq report: Secret plans for war, no plans for peace
In the bitter aftermath of the Iraq invasion, Tony Blair was many times accused of sending British troops to war on a deceit. Troops 'rushed' into battle without armour or training
“Never again,” says the main “lessons learnt” report, “must we send ill-equipped soldiers into battle.” Britain 'unprepared' for nation building
“As soon as Saddam Hussein’s regime falls,” promised the Prime Minister, “the work to build a new, free and united Iraq will begin. A peaceful, prosperous Iraq which will be run by and for the Iraqi people.”
DAY TWO
Hostility between British and American military leaders revealed
Government documents leaked to The Telegraph reveal the deep hostility of Britain's military commanders towards US allies.
Iraq war caused rupture between British and American military
Iraq was supposed to cement Britain as America’s closest ally. But if the papers leaked to the Daily Telegraph are any guide, it caused not an improvement, but a significant rupture between the two countries’ military top brass
The Chilcot Inquiry: leaks at the heart of key issues
At 10 o’clock this Tuesday in the bland surroundings of Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, a retired Whitehall mandarin called Sir John Chilcot will begin the first hearings of the long-awaited public inquiry into the Iraq war.
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Friday, 13 November 2009
"For your tomorrow, we gave our today"
By TOM NEWTON DUNNPolitical EditorPublished: The Sun Monday 09 Nov 2009
A BOY of seven symbolises the gratitude - and sadness - of a nation yesterday as he wears his grandad's medals at the Remembrance ceremony in London. Proud Connor Stickels - standing on a postbox so he could see above the crowd at the Cenotaph - gently touched the military awards presented to his 'gramps' - a Royal Navy veteran from World War II.
Connor had waited patiently in the crowd for three hours to pay the tribute to his beloved grandad, deceased Allan Slater, who took part in missions in the Atlantic as well as in Burma.
But the youngster's touching display of affection and pride on a cold November morning in London was being repeated across the country.
But the youngster's touching display of affection and pride on a cold November morning in London was being repeated across the country.
In the capital, it was the Queen who led the tributes. Under the heavy grey skies, she stood ramrod straight in respect in front of the Whitehall memorial as Big Ben chimed 11 o'clock to mark the start of a perfectly-kept two minutes' silence.
Prince Harry was representing Prince Charles, who is on a tour in Canada. The message on his wreath, written by his father, read: "In grateful and everlasting memory." But the wreath of other son Prince William was more touching.
Trainee RAF pilot William dedicated his message to two close Sandhurst friends who were killed in action in 2007. Referring to his mentor Major Alexis Roberts, killed in southern Afghanistan, and fellow officer cadet 2nd Lt Jo Dyer, it read: "In memory of Lex, Jo and others who have made the ultimate sacrifice."
The day had extra poignancy as it also marked the passing of a generation that had given so much. It was the first Remembrance Sunday ever - in 90 years - held with no World War I Army veterans left alive. The last Tommy from the 1914-18 conflict, Harry Patch, died aged 111 in July.
But with 2009 the most tragic year for the Forces since the Falklands War 27 years ago, the day had a special significance for people across the country. In many minds were the words that appear on the Kohima Memorial commemorating Allied troops who died in 1944 in the Burma campaign - "When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow we gave our today."
One little girl facing a lifetime of sorrow, after the sacrifice made by her dad, was 11-year-old Poppy Griffith-Gibson.
Her Flight Sergeant father Mark was killed aboard an RAF C-130 in Iraq nearly five years ago.
She laid a poppy memorial to her dad at a service in Wootton Bassett, Wilts.
It was an appropriate location. The market town regularly turns out in its thousands to pay tribute to service victims being returned home from Afghanistan.
Christina Schmid, 34 - widow of bomb disposal hero Olaf Schmid - had to battle with her emotions as she honoured the staff sergeant at a service in Truro, Cornwall. Her husband, 30, was killed a week ago as he tried to defuse a bomb in Helmand.
With tears in their eyes and poppies pinned to their winter coats, ten year-old Adam Chant and sister Victoria, eight, stood proudly in line to remember their dad at a Remembrance service in Horndean, Hants.
Regimental Sergeant Major Darren "Daz" Chant, 40, was one of the five British troops murdered in cold-blood by a Taliban assassin posing as an Afghan cop last week.
Roger Patch, 52, grandson of last World War I Army veteran Harry Patch, paid an emotional tribute to him at his graveside in Monkton Combe, Somerset.
And in another touching tribute Alex Flintham, five, from Chadwell Heath, Essex, carried a cross with the names of four of his great great-grandads and great uncles who died in World War I.
There were services too in Afghanistan, with Britain's 9,000 troops holding frontline tributes to mark the loss of close comrades - including two over the weekend.
The Household Cavalry Regiment gathered around a wooden cross they had erected in Musa Qalah - the most remote forward operating base in Helmand. And the British task force's commander there, Brigadier James Cowen, laid a wreath at a memorial wall in Lashkar Gah.
The two troops to fall over the weekend were both killed near the hotspot town of Sangin, and both members of The Rifles.
The two troops to fall over the weekend were both killed near the hotspot town of Sangin, and both members of The Rifles.
Back in Britain, Chelsea players invited over 200 soldiers to their sell-out clash with Manchester United yesterday as a Remembrance Day tribute. CHIEF of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup yesterday said more needed to be done to show the British public that the mission in Afghanistan was "do-able". t.newtondunn@the-sun.co.uk
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Soldier mum's disgust at condolence letter: PM couldn't even get our name right
By TOM NEWTON DUNNPolitical Editor
Published: The Sun Monday 09 Nov 2009
GORDON Brown was accused of disrespecting our war dead yesterday with TWO shameful blunders. He got a dead soldier's name WRONG in a letter to the hero's mum - and FAILED to bow at the Cenotaph.
His gaffes came despite The Sun's campaign to remind him there is a bloody war on.
Blundering Mr Brown left war hero Jamie Janes's grieving mother in tears by sending her an error-filled letter of condolence in which he even mis-spelled their name.
The hand-written note to heartbroken Jacqui JANES about her 20-year-old son, began: Dear Mrs JAMES.
Grenadier Guardsman Jamie was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan on October 5. PMs write to all next-of-kin of the fallen. Mr Brown's mistakes fuelled claims he does not care about Britain's forces. He telephoned Jacqui today to apologise for his mistake.
No comfort ... Jamie's mum Jacqui with a photo of him
Jacqui, 47, said: "He couldn't even be bothered to get our family name right. That made me so angry. "Then I saw he had scribbled out a mistake in Jamie's name. "The very least I would expect from Gordon Brown is to get his name right. "The letter was scrawled so quickly I could hardly even read it and some of the words were half-finished. It's just disrespectful."
In the original letter, Mr Brown: SPELLED Jamie incorrectly and then corrected it by scrawling over the last letter. COMMITTED four other spelling mistakes: Greatst for greatest, condolencs for condolences, you instead of your, and colleagus for colleagues. He also wrote the letter "i" incorrectly 18 times - mostly by leaving the dots off them but once by using two in "security".
And he ended with a repetition - writing "my sincere condolences" and then signing off "Yours sincerely".
Tragic ... Guards heroJamie Janes
Mum-of-six Jacqui went on: "In the days after Jamie's death I got letters from Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace, the Defence Secretary and his regiment. "They were all written from the heart and made me feel Jamie's death was important to them. Then I got Gordon Brown's. I only got through the first four lines before I threw it across the room in disgust.
"I re-read it later. He said, 'I know words can offer little comfort'. When the words are written in such a hurry the letter is littered with more than 20 mistakes, they offer NO comfort.
"It was an insult to Jamie and all the good men and women who have died out there. How low a priority was my son that he could send me that disgraceful, hastily-scrawled insult of a letter?
"He finished by asking if there was any way he could help.
"One thing he can do is never, ever, send a letter out like that to another dead soldier's family. Type it or get someone to check it. And get the name right."
Jamie joined the Grenadier Guards just after his 16th birthday, following his older brother Andrew, 26, into the Army. He died two weeks into his second Afghan tour, blasted by a hidden Taliban bomb.
His mum, from Portslade, East Sussex, said: "Jamie was the fifth generation from our family to join the infantry. "He was so proud to be serving his country and making life better for the people of Afghanistan. He told me how rewarding it was. "But the Government sent Our Boys and Girls out without the best equipment and my little boy came back in a coffin."
Four ex-military chiefs told Mr Brown on Friday that the Armed Forces "felt he has never really been on their side and they have not had his support".
A spokesperson for Mr Brown said last night: "The PM takes a great deal of time writing letters of condolence. "The reason he personally writes to every family is to acknowledge the debt of gratitude owed by the country to those who have died. "He would never knowingly mis-spell anyone's name."
Mr Brown has previously spoken of how he lost an eye in a rugby accident as a schoolboy.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr in September: "I have had very serious problems with my eye and it has been very difficult over the years. But you can do a job, you can work hard."
t.newtondunn@the-sun.co.uk
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
My Hero Oz saved lives, says his wife
(wearing Help for Heroes wristband)
Metro Friday 6th November 09Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
BBC's Question Time 22/10/09
Panel included: Jack Straw, Baroness Warsi, Chris Huhne, Nick Griffin and Bonnie Greer.
Key Topics; Winston Churchill, Issues of Race and Religion, Immigration Policies, Stephen Gately lifestyle portrayal in the Daily Mail and Homosexuality, and whether it was in the BNP favour to be broadcasted on BBC’s Question Time.
Here are some key quotes and questions asked on the show:
Given that the Second World War was fuelled by the need to disarm a racists’ regime, is it fair that the BNP hijack Churchill as its own?
Jack Straw:
“It’s certainly not fair, and one of the extraordinary things about the Second World War and the First World War, is not only that we fought Nazis in the Second World War and defeated it. A party and an ideology based on race, just like another party represented here today based on race. Fundamentally to its constitution by the way that the BNP defines themselves on race, which distinguishes it from every other party, and what is common with every other political party that I can think, regardless of the differences, that they each have a moral compass and show respect – a recognizable moral compass for them based on long-standing cultural, philosophical and religious values in western society. Nazism didn’t and neither does the constitution of the BNP.
Another thing I’ll say is this – we only won the First World War and only won the Second World War because we were joined in those wars by millions of Black and Asian people from around the world.”.....
Nick Griffin:
“If Churchill were alive today, his own place would be in BNP.”......
Baroness Warsi:
“I think any political party, which has the values of the BNP, does not share the values of Churchill or our armed forces, therefore its’ disgusting that they use those images. And I think if I can follow on from what Jack was said there were many, many people from different coloured backgrounds and religions who fought alongside British Soldiers to fight Fascism.”.....
Issues on Race and Religion – Policy of Islam
Nick Griffin:
“My policy on Islam is a truce with Islam. I am not the one with blood of 8000 Iraqis on my hands after a legal war as Jack Straw is. I’ve never hurt one single Muslim. I believe that if the west should try to stop the de-Islamise the Middle East, and should leave those countries to their own affairs. We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq, and we must never go into Iran undisputed, that’s where the Tories will take us in due course, we should leave them alone and we should ensure that if Muslims are staying in this country, they do follow the understanding that our country must remain fundamentally British and Christian Country.”
Queries were raised amongst our tutorial group on 30/10/09 about the previous week’s Question Time and whether holding a charity in favour of Help for Heroes would cause a negative backlash.
However, after viewing the show again, I feel that the show barely touched upon issues surrounding the armed forces and the Iraq and Afghanistan War, and other topics such as race and immigration were the main focus of the show. I also feel that the general public would not instinctively associate Help for Heroes and our event with Nick Griffin or the BNP.
It is good that from now on as a group, we consider regularly viewing political shows, who try to broadcast a variety of opinions, because our charity cause links so closely with politics.
As well as conduct our own primary research to get a good idea of what people think about the War, the armed forces and Help for Heroes as an organisation.
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
Key Topics; Winston Churchill, Issues of Race and Religion, Immigration Policies, Stephen Gately lifestyle portrayal in the Daily Mail and Homosexuality, and whether it was in the BNP favour to be broadcasted on BBC’s Question Time.
Here are some key quotes and questions asked on the show:
Given that the Second World War was fuelled by the need to disarm a racists’ regime, is it fair that the BNP hijack Churchill as its own?
Jack Straw:
“It’s certainly not fair, and one of the extraordinary things about the Second World War and the First World War, is not only that we fought Nazis in the Second World War and defeated it. A party and an ideology based on race, just like another party represented here today based on race. Fundamentally to its constitution by the way that the BNP defines themselves on race, which distinguishes it from every other party, and what is common with every other political party that I can think, regardless of the differences, that they each have a moral compass and show respect – a recognizable moral compass for them based on long-standing cultural, philosophical and religious values in western society. Nazism didn’t and neither does the constitution of the BNP.
Another thing I’ll say is this – we only won the First World War and only won the Second World War because we were joined in those wars by millions of Black and Asian people from around the world.”.....
Nick Griffin:
“If Churchill were alive today, his own place would be in BNP.”......
Baroness Warsi:
“I think any political party, which has the values of the BNP, does not share the values of Churchill or our armed forces, therefore its’ disgusting that they use those images. And I think if I can follow on from what Jack was said there were many, many people from different coloured backgrounds and religions who fought alongside British Soldiers to fight Fascism.”.....
Issues on Race and Religion – Policy of Islam
Nick Griffin:
“My policy on Islam is a truce with Islam. I am not the one with blood of 8000 Iraqis on my hands after a legal war as Jack Straw is. I’ve never hurt one single Muslim. I believe that if the west should try to stop the de-Islamise the Middle East, and should leave those countries to their own affairs. We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq, and we must never go into Iran undisputed, that’s where the Tories will take us in due course, we should leave them alone and we should ensure that if Muslims are staying in this country, they do follow the understanding that our country must remain fundamentally British and Christian Country.”
Queries were raised amongst our tutorial group on 30/10/09 about the previous week’s Question Time and whether holding a charity in favour of Help for Heroes would cause a negative backlash.
However, after viewing the show again, I feel that the show barely touched upon issues surrounding the armed forces and the Iraq and Afghanistan War, and other topics such as race and immigration were the main focus of the show. I also feel that the general public would not instinctively associate Help for Heroes and our event with Nick Griffin or the BNP.
It is good that from now on as a group, we consider regularly viewing political shows, who try to broadcast a variety of opinions, because our charity cause links so closely with politics.
As well as conduct our own primary research to get a good idea of what people think about the War, the armed forces and Help for Heroes as an organisation.
Posted by: Michelle Nielsen
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