tories attack lack of proper equipment in afghanistan the AA grumpy column

[pantoandy]

hello from grumpy towers .
the afghanistan war rears its head once again with gordon brown under fire for
failing to ensure the soliders fighting out there have the proper equiptment nesecerry.

DAVID CAMERON has branded the lack of suitable helicopters to allow British troops to move around southern Afghanistan a "scandal".
The Tory leader today called on the Government to "beg, borrow or, frankly, steal those helicopters that are necessary for our troops".

He said: “The Government must deal with this issue as a matter of extreme emergency.”

“The Government made a historic mistake with a cutback of the helicopter programme and they did it at a time when our troops were engaged both in Iraq and Afghanistan and in these conflicts mobility is absolutely key.

“You have got to commit the resources so that they can do the job properly. The other thing we should do is much more effort to go to every single Nato country and really hold their feet to the fire about why their helicopters are not there.
The Government's handling of Afghanistan is under growing pressure


“If you do a desktop search on how many helicopters and troop-carrying helicopters different Nato countries have, you come up with a very significant number.

“When you see what’s actually in Afghanistan, it is a much less significant number."

His comments come after the Ministry of Defence named eight men killed in the space of just 24 hours - including three young riflemen from 2nd Battalion The Rifles who were just 18-years-old.

The latest deaths bring the total number of British military fatalities in Afghanistan since the start of operations in 2001 to 184 - surpassing the 179 who died in Iraq.

The news of the deaths has sparked fresh criticism and threatened cross-party consensus concerning Britain's role in the military campaign.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said there was an “enormous discrepancy” between the ratio of helicopters to troops between the US and the UK.

He said the Government had to maximise the chance of success and provide troops with “enough equipment to minimise the risk to them”.

He added: “I think we’re there because of our national security. People, I think, understand that the training camps from which the 9/11 attacks were launched came from Al Qaida in Afghanistan. We have to deny them that space.”

Dr Fox said the UK needed a “simpler view of what we’re trying to achieve” or faced “setting expectations in Afghanistan which cannot be met”.

The Tories' comments come just days after Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said "lives were being thrown away" because of inadequate equipment.

But Foreign Secretary David Miliband today said the UK's strategy was "very clear".

He said: “This is a mission that’s been developed with a very clear strategy: above all, to make us safer here because we know these areas of Afghanistan and its neighbour Pakistan are used to launch terrorism around the world.

“So the mission for us is clear.”

Mr Miliband said the "great danger" faced by British troops was on the ground.

The five UK troops killed in Sangin on Friday were on foot patrol, which was “an essential part of the mission”, he said.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth also insisted the Government was doing everything possible to increase the number of helicopters and armoured vehicles available to troops in Afghanistan.

After a bloody start to July, which saw the death toll in Afghanistan pass that of the Iraq war, Mr Ainsworth said no amount of helicopters could have prevented the rising casualty rate.

Under further attack from the Tories today, he said there had been an 84 per cent increase in availability of helicopters.

But, he added: “The changes in the way in which the operations are being conducted leads to more ground operations and these cannot be conducted from helicopters.”

“There has been hand-to-hand fighting that has resulted in some of the deaths that we have experienced, sadly, over the last week or so.

“This cannot be conducted from inside a highly armoured vehicle and it cannot be conducted from a helicopter.”

Mr Ainsworth added: "This operation will not be won by killing Taliban, it will be won by winning the people, by protecting the people, and by the people accepting that we and the Afghan government are on their side.”
Daily Express | UK News :: Tories join attack of Afghan campaign

AAG

Whilst MPs are quite prepared to send our young men to war lacking both numbers and helicopters and other equipment by underfunding defence.
today i saw a box in a sainsbury,s garage where people could donate items of food razors ladies items etc to be sent to our troops in afganistan.
yet They themselves are more than happy to pillage the public purse for their own ends. Monies paid for Browns cleaners or millibands garden could be used to support the troops. It is sickening that these greedy people even want the public purse to pay for their food never mind their accomodation.
we need to give the troops what they need or pull them out now because in this war there can be no winners just years of mindless killing like northern ireland which will continue untill peace can be negociated or the next elected prime minister decides to bring our troops home.
this was a war just to boost the ego,s of blair and brown this was a war we didnt want or ask for.

[gmc]

posted by panto andy

AAG

Whilst MPs are quite prepared to send our young men to war lacking both numbers and helicopters and other equipment by underfunding defence.
today i saw a box in a sainsbury,s garage where people could donate items of food razors ladies items etc to be sent to our troops in afganistan.
yet They themselves are more than happy to pillage the public purse for their own ends. Monies paid for Browns cleaners or millibands garden could be used to support the troops. It is sickening that these greedy people even want the public purse to pay for their food never mind their accomodation.
we need to give the troops what they need or pull them out now because in this war there can be no winners just years of mindless killing like northern ireland which will continue untill peace can be negociated or the next elected prime minister decides to bring our troops home.
this was a war just to boost the ego,s of blair and brown this was a war we didnt want or ask for.

I'm depressed. i actually agree with panto andy for once.

Gordon brown is a moron.

[oscar]

Originally Posted by gmc

posted by panto andy


I'm depressed. i actually agree with panto andy for once.

Gordon brown is a moron.

FactCheck: how many helicopters? - Channel 4 News

[Chookie]

Originally Posted by gmc

Gordon brown is a moron.

Not any more. He has far surpassed the criteria for moronism. He is now (like his predecessor) a war criminal.

[Bill Sikes]

Originally Posted by pantoandy

“The Government made a historic mistake with a cutback of the helicopter programme

They have made many mistakes in this area - not least cutting defence spending drastically (as a % of GDP) since the mid 1980s, when it was merely inadequate. Now they're thinking of reducing our nuclear deterrent, which on a global scale is in any case very small. It's time that total defence spending to be increased by some small amount - say doubled.

[gmc]

Originally Posted by oscar

FactCheck: how many helicopters? - Channel 4 News

The claim

"We have sent more helicopters. We now have almost twice as much helicopter capability as we had two years ago."
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, G8 press conference in response to a question by Channel 4 News, 10 July 2009

Today, in a slightly watered-down version of Friday's claim, Brown told parliament that helicopter numbers had in fact increased by 60 per cent in two years, with availability up 84 per cent.

You'd think at least the forner chncellor of the exchequer and now PM would be able to do simple arithmetic wouldn't you?