Lest We Forget

Today was apparently the end of UK combat Operations in Iraq. The date is somewhat moot as over 400 "advisers" will remain in Iraq and has apparently been pulled forward a month to suit Gordon Brown.

We should celebrate the fact that we are finally coming out of Iraq after 6 long years but we should not forget the terrible toll that this war has claimed on our forces. Gordon Brown may claim it as a success but many others in the UK will look on it as little short of a Disaster.

Whatever we think we owe much to the efforts of our British troops and the sacrifices they have made for us.

A total of 179 people from the British Forces have died in Iraq. Full details are here. In addition many others have been injured, both in mind and body, and we must help them through the coming years. Help for Heroes would be a good starting place

May they Rest in Peace.

They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK fatalities in Afghanistan and Iraq: In images

Honouring 'The Fallen'

If you haven't seen this then I recommend you watch it. It's available on BBC IPlayer and is being re-shown at other times on the various BBC channels.

Three hundred British troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in seven years - a death toll film-maker Morgan Matthews set out to honour in a three-hour programme. What drove him to make such a harrowing documentary?

For a year Morgan Matthews has been on a mission to reconnect the British public with the human cost among British forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was 12 months ago that he started work on an ambitious TV programme to chronicle all those who have died for Queen and country in these ongoing wars.

Matthews recalls well how the project crystallised in his head. He had been "flicking through a newspaper" and noticed "on about the fourth or fifth page... a report of the latest British service personnel to be killed, with a small thumbnail picture and a couple of paragraphs".

If you do watch it then be prepared, it is at times not easy viewing, and at times just plain distressing, but in my humble opinion, it is worth making every politician watch this before they blandly say we have done our best. It is also just plain humbling to watch the bravery of those left behind. After you have watched this programme then maybe, like the film maker, you will be able to say

"When I hear news, as I did this morning, of two people who have died, I think of them as people. And I think about the families behind them."

BBC NEWS | Magazine | Honouring 'The Fallen'

Does Gordon have the courage to Ride in "Snatch" Land Rover.

No, is the simple answer, yet he expects our troops to do it. Despite all his bletherings about how much money he has or will spend, the problem is that at the moment there is no choice. Not enough helicopters and not enough of the new vehicles on the ground.

When Gordon or one of his minions travels to to Iraq or Afghanistan, they seldom travel in anything but planes and helicopters, which are what the soldiers would choose as well if they had enough of them.

I attended a families day recently for the Royal Marines and saw the vehicles they would be using on the ground on their current tour. They still included the "snatch" Land Rovers and Vikings that have caused so many deaths.

According to the Telegraph

The recriminations over the resignation of SAS officer Major Sebastian Morley in protest over the Ministry of Defence's "gross negligence" in forcing his troops into the vulnerable vehicles spilled over into Prime Minster's Questions. Gordon Brown was asked by Gerald Howarth, the shadow defence minister, if he accepted that when Major Morley deployed in Snatch he "had no choice whatsoever contrary to all the assurances given to commanders that they would have whatever equipment they require?"
Mr Brown said the Government had "done our best in recent years to provide the equipment that is necessary" spending £1 billion on 1,200 new armoured vehicles.
Families and opposition MPs rounded on Gordon Brown, criticising his evasive answers in the Commons on the day another British soldier was killed in Afghanistan.

Col Bob Stewart, who used the flimsy Snatch during his time as a commander in Bosnia in the 90s, said the Prime Minister's comments that the Government had "done its best" was not enough to prevent the loss of 34 lives

"The Government certainly has not done it best. If they had done their best they would have found other vehicles that would have saved lives. They might have ordered these better vehicles now but its too late for the 34 people soldiers who have already died in Snatch. This problem has been highlighted for many years now but only now have they came round to the idea of addressing it.

Let us not forget this is not a new problem Have a look at this article from June 2006 nearly 2 1/2 years ago on the exact same problem. The BBC reported then:

Our correspondent says 18 British troops have been killed by
roadside bombs while travelling in Land Rovers. It equates to almost a quarter of British soldiers killed in hostile action, Conservative MP Roger Gale told the Commons. "These vehicles are widely recognised to be inadequately armoured to withstand roadside bombs and in consequence are seen as a soft target for insurgents," he said.

Des Browne the multi-tasking Defence Secretary responded

"This is a serious issue. I've asked for a review into this," he said. "There are medium and long-term plans in relation to vehicles and I will be looking in the short-term at what we can do to respond to the situation."

So 30 months and a further 16 lives later our forces are still being forced to use this vehicle. This is government ineptitude on a gross scale.

As usual this government is doing too little too late. It has done this in almost all its aspects of government be it defence, the economy, foreign policy, policing, environment or the NHS. It is incapable of preventing problems and can only apply a sticking plaster on the gushing wounds it has helped create.

The only good thing is that people are now seeing this and will again give Brown and his minions a bloody nose as they vote in Glenrothes, the constituency next door to his own, and return an SNP MP.


Gordon Brown accused of 'evasive' response over SAS deaths - Telegraph

Nato's Afghan forces 'hit limit'

Coalition forces in Afghanistan have

"now reached their limit"

according to General Sir Michael Rose, former commander of UN forces in Bosnia.

What does he mean by this?

General Rose, who has recently returned from Afghanistan, says while the international community is clearly committed to a victory there, serious operational problems remain which could still undo NATO's mission.

He also points out that there are only 8,000 servicemen and women in a vast swathe of territory that is home to more than a million Afghans.

He then goes onto say

As in all insurgency wars, winning the confidence and consent of the people of Afghanistan will always be more important than winning any particular tactical level military battle against the Taleban

This is not new thinking and particularly not new thinking for Britain. The "Emergency" in Malaya (as was) was won by this sort of tactic, getting the people on board and using them to win the war. We and the USA in particular have been very poor at achieving this both in in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gen Rose also suggests forming Afghan tribal militias to aid western forces and the Afghan army.

"By winning the support of the Pashtun tribes who live on both sides of the border and by developing a sympathetic understanding of their complex tribal systems, it should be possible to achieve security in the key eastern and southern areas of Afghanistan,"

However, he does believe the war is being won - at least on a military level - for now.

"Afghanistan is not Vietnam, it is not even Iraq. The insurgency war that is being fought in Afghanistan today is militarily winnable and it is slowly being won."

How long it would take to win this war and how many of our servicemen's lives this will cost is not clear and this should be a huge concern. Only by getting the people of Afghanistan and Iraq involved can we really hope to see this war won without many years of conflict.

BBC NEWS UK Nato's Afghan forces 'hit limit'

Hercules Deaths Result Of Serious Systemic Failures

Yet again we have a report of serious systemic failures causing the deaths of servicemen. The Herald reports

The deaths of 10 British servicemen killed when their RAF Hercules was shot downin Iraq was the result of "serious systemic failures", a coroner said today. The fact that the Ministry of Defence and RAF had not fitted the Hercules fleet with ESF (explosion-suppressant foam) was a factor in the tragedy, coroner David Masters said.

He continues

"The failure to fit ESF was on the facts found a serious systemic failure and a contributory factor in the loss of the aircraft."There was a loss of opportunity for the survival of the crew by that failure."The Hercules C130k aircraft, 47 Squadron Special Forces flight XV179, was flying at low-level (about 150ft) in daylight from Baghdad to Balad to await further tasking orders when it was downed by insurgents. The coroner, ruling that the 10 men were unlawfully killed, highlighted the way intelligence was not passed on about a previous attack by insurgents on the US Blackhawks on the same day in the same sector. He described this as another "failure." But he said XV179's decision to fly at low level was not a failure because the Hercules flying community at the time had no idea of their vulnerability to small arms fire, which they were in range of at 150ft.

More information on the Hercules case here.

Hercules Inquest Deaths Result Of Serious Systemic Failures

Armed Forces 'stretched beyond their capabilities'

Just after hearing the sad news of the death of another soldier in fighting in Afghanistan, we now have the news from the chief of the Armed Forces, Sir Jock Stirrup, that the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left the Forces

"stretched beyond the capabilities we have"

Now this will not be surprising news to many people who have been following the news of the conflicts, but to Des Browne it may come as surprise as he keeps telling us there are few if any problems with our forces or their equipment.

This is the first time the most senior officer in the British military has expressed such grave doubts about the struggle faced by troops fighting wars on two fronts, though a number of other senior Officers have expressed a similar opinion a number of times.

According to the Telegraph, Labour ministers have repeatedly denied suggestions that the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have left the Forces overstretched, and opposition MPs said Sir Jock's candid remarks have made that position untenable.

As I reported earlier other senior members of the Armed Forces have given a similar stark warning and have been disciplined by Gordon Brown. What can Gordon do now? The problem is that, unlike the sheep we call Labour MP's, the senior Armed Forces Officers have a duty to both their Men(and women) and this country and regard this higher than pleasing our inept Political Leaders.

Let us hope that our Military Leaders can sort out this problem as their Political Masters are incapable of running the proverbial piss-up in a Brewery.

Britain's Armed Forces 'stretched beyond their capabilities' by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan - Telegraph

Injured Troops must get Better Treatment

A British soldier patrols the northern suburbs of Basra. Photograph: Dave Clark/AFP/Getty images

The Telegraph reports that Lieutenant-General Louis Lillywhite, the Surgeon General, has said

Double the number of troops are now surviving serious injuries than would have done during the Falklands conflict. But while they receive high-quality emergency care while still on the frontline, the focus now needs to shift to improving follow-up treatment in British hospitals.

The article continues

Those who are capable of surviving, we are making survive. Three or four months ago that was our main effort. We have now got to turn to the quality of that survival. Adding it was impossible for all injured servicemen to be dealt with in military facilities because of a lack of manpower. There is much to do he admitted.

Apparently the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) now routinely logs every detail of injuries in theatre, from the type of injury and its severity, the length of time the casualty remained in a battlefield and, if deaths occur, whether it was possible to prevent them, given the safety of the scene and the injuries.

The figures show that by mid-February, the Armed Forces had suffered in Afghanistan,

• 87 fatalities
• 114 personnel were seriously or very seriously injured
• 1,133 injured personnel were admitted to field hospitals
• 880 were evacuated to the UK.

In Iraq,

• 212 had died by mid-February
• 212 were seriously or very seriously injured
• 2,695 were admitted to field hospitals
• 1,347 were evacuated to the UK.

These figures are probably the first to be released to the public showing the casualty rates in these two theatres for UK forces.

A journal published by the RAMC reported that of the 76 deaths from trauma related injuries which occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 12 months to April 2007, none could have been prevented.

Statistical evidence from Britain and the US suggested that the death rate from serious injuries was now between 12 to 15 per cent - roughly half the rate which occurred in the Falklands or Vietnam.

Most seriously injured service personnel brought back to the UK are treated in civilian hospitals at first, although many will later be transferred to the military rehabilitation centre at Headley Court in Surrey.

There has been repeated criticism of the standard of care servicemen - most of whom have suffered head injuries, severe burns or lost limbs - receive in the civilian system. At Selly Oak in Birmingham, troops have complained of dirty, mixed wards and of abusive treatment from staff.

Last month, Afghanistan veteran and paratrooper Capt Martin Hewitt said the "truth'' about the continued poor care for troops back in the UK had to be exposed as it was "unacceptable''.

Not only is standard of care unacceptable but the compensation paid to injured troops is also woeful. Take a look at this story on Rogue Gunner's blog, which highlights the case of

A hero British soldier left severely crippled by an Iraqi sniper has been awarded a paltry £35,000 in compensation from the Army.

Jon Le Galloudec, 27, was picked off on the streets of Basra almost a year ago. His brave comrade Rodney Wilson came to his aid and was shot dead in front of him. The bullet that hit Jon ripped through his spine leaving him paralysed in his left leg and from the knee down in his right leg.

Contrast this with the record £2million compensation to an Iraqi teenager paralysed by a stray British bullet or the £484,000 awarded to an RAF typist who injured her thumb.

Currently the NHS and this government do not do enough for out injured personnel. They are now relying on public donations and help to get vital rehabilitation facilities. Have a look at the very worthwhile "Help for Heroes" organisation's website which has now raised over £6m for facilities in just over 8 months or donate via the sidebar link.


Injured troops must get better NHS treatment - Telegraph

UK 'failed to make Basra safe'

173 members of the armed forces have died in Iraq since the start of the latest conflict and now we here that the UK

"has failed to make Basra safe"

What does this say about the sacrifice made by these people, Was it all worth it, what have we achieved and are we running away with out tails between our legs.

The report on the BBC says

The initial goal of UK forces in south eastern Iraq was to establish the security necessary for the development of representative political institutions and for economic reconstruction. Although progress has been made, this goal remains unfulfilled."

It also suggested that the relative security of Basra did not mean that the root causes of violence had been tackled.

The report added: "There remain murderous, corrupt and militia-infiltrated elements within the police which must be rooted out as a matter of priority."It went on to speculate on the future role of UK forces in Iraq. The report said: "If there is still a role for UK forces in Iraq, those forces must be capable of doing more than just protecting themselves at Basra Air Station.

This basically means we have achieved little in our 4 years in Basra and that our continuing presence is pointless with the current level of troops.

The report also explains that

The relative security of Basra is said to owe more to the dominance of militias and criminal gangs, who are said to have achieved a fragile balance in the city, than to the success of the multinational and Iraqi security forces in tackling the root causes of the violence.

So basically we have the standard gang warfare of a disintegrating society. This is our gift to Iraq.

I can only point to the relative success that the US now seem to be having in other areas after intensifying its commitments to Iraq. Our problem is that we no longer have the capability to do this and also fight in Afghanistan, why because we do not invest in our Armed Forces.

Des Browne bleats on about how the Defence budget is keeping pace with inflation completely ignoring that most of the increase is for two ships and that inflation in the highly technical defence world runs at least twice as high as normal bread and butter inflation. This means that year on year we have been, and are, losing up to 5% of our capabilities purely to inflation never mind any other cuts this government foists on the armed services at a time when they are at their most stretched in nearly 50 years.

Makes you glad to be British.

BBC NEWS | Politics | UK 'failed to make Basra safe'

Two die in Iraq Puma helicopter crash

The BBC reports today on the death of two more members of the Armed Forces in Iraq.

We also hear of further stories about the suitability of the equipment being used in Iraq and the age of the equipment. According to the BBC

The US military issued a statement on Tuesday saying two people had been killed and 12 injured when a coalition helicopter crashed near Salman Pak, on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital.

But a spokesman for the UK defence ministry said he could not confirm whether this was the same incident but the details did appear to match.

Defence chiefs said their thoughts were "with the families" of all involved.

The deaths on Tuesday take the total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to 173.

Puma Helicopters have been involved in a number of incidents in service

December 1979: Two RAF pilots and one crewman killed in Mtoko, Zimbabwe, after their Puma hit phone wires.

August 1991:Two killed when a British military Puma crashed in southern France.

November 1992 - Four killed when a Puma and a Gazelle helicopter collided in Northern Ireland.

February 1997 - RAF Puma pilot died after his helicopter crashed near the Bavarian village of Urspring during a training exercise.

April 2001: Two RAF pilots killed when a Puma crashed near Kosovo's border with Macedonia.

March 2002: Seven hurt after an RAF Puma made a forced landing in south Armagh, Northern Ireland.

July 2004: RAF co-pilot killed when a Puma crashed as it came in to land in Basra, southern Iraq.

April 2007: Two British servicemen killed in a collision between two Pumas near Baghdad.

And then in August 2007 3 servicemen killed near Catterick as a Puma crashed.

Which brings us to PMQ's today when the following question was asked

Mr. Paul Keetch (Hereford) (LD): The Prime Minister rightly paid tribute to the servicemen killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The two men killed in Iraq were possibly in a Puma helicopter that was older than some of the personnel it was carrying. When will the Chinook helicopters ordered by the previous Conservative Government for use by our special forces be delivered for use by our special forces?

The Prime Minister: I do not think, despite the tragedy yesterday, that anybody should jump to any conclusions about what has happened. A full investigation should and will take place. I want to pay tribute to the courage, dedication and service of the men who have died.

As for equipment, we have ordered more helicopters; more helicopters are there on the ground; and we have the biggest defence programme of capital investment over the next 10 years of any Government at any time.

You just have to admire the gall of the Prime Minister as he ignores the question (that means no the Chinook's are not in service) and rolls out some Tractor Production statistics instead of answering the question.

Our Armed Forces deserve so much better than this. The Puma is a 40 year old design and all RAF Pumas are at least 20 years old.


BBC NEWS | UK | Two dead in Iraq helicopter crash

Dear Cyclops

Image from Getty Images.

Bob Ainsworth Stuffed by Paxo

Bob Ainworth, Labour MP for Coventry North East and Minister for State (Armed Forces) Ministry of Defence has just been Paxoed on Newsnight, asked some simple addition questions on how many soldiers were returning from Iraq he had no answers apart from fudging the issue.

It was painful and embarrassing to watch this poor man squirm for his leaders who have left him out to dry whilst Des Browne his boss fights the SNP instead of doing his proper job, and Gordon spins his way cynically towards an election.

It now appears that of the 1000 troops due back from Iraq, 500 have never got there, 270 were already back before Cyclops arrived and so only 230 will actually be returning.

These are the approx figures but may have to be changed as it all becomes as clear as the muddied waters of the Labour Cesspit of lies.

Update: Just trying to remember if Mr Ainsworth said that the 500 who will not go to Iraq will be "redeployed". In these days that means they will not be in Blighty(or Germany where they are apparently based) for Xmas but will be going to Afghanistan. This is quite likely as 500 troops ready to go to Iraq are the ideal candidates for deployment to Afghanistan. Waiting for the Newsnight report to be available online.

Brown spins in for Baghdad visit

I see not satisfied with leaking details of possible planned troop cuts in Iraq, Mr (I don't spin Brown) has arrived in Iraq to deflect good news from the Tory conference.

Amazing coincidence he should have planned such a visit during this time.

Using our armed forces in this way is as low as it gets. After all the cuts and the shoddy treatment he has forced on the armed forces let us hope that the soldiers on the ground welcome him in a suitable manner.

THIS IS A DISGRACE. He should be hung as a traitor to this country.

As you might note I am a tad angry!

BBC NEWS | UK | Brown flies in for Baghdad visit

3000 Troops Home By Christmas - Or Maybe Not

(Image courtesy of Rogue Gunner)

According to "informed defence" sources the Herald reports that 3,000 troops will be coming home from Iraq before Christmas.

I wonder if they have spoken to the opposing forces in Basra who now appear to be starting on all out war in the city and the surrounding areas. According to the Independent

A surge in violence in Basra has raised the prospect of British troops having to go back into the city if the security situation deteriorates further.
British forces, who withdrew from their last remaining base in Basra City earlier this month, remain officially in charge of security in the area and UK commanders have said that they are ready to step back in if necessary with a battlegroup, the Royal Welsh with Challenger tanks, on standby for such an eventuality.

Perhaps the withdrawal of troops from Iraq is more to do with saving money at the MOD who are being forced by the government to give troops a £140 rebate on their Council tax bills for a six month tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

By withdrawing early they might be able to save some of this. This rebate by the government of £140 was of course announced by them as if it was NEW money but as often occurs with Labour it is in fact OLD money just being redirected.

The money for this rebate will have to be taken from the MOD budget which is already in short supply supplying our troops with the essentials like ammunition, helicopters, clothing, armour and the likes along with other sundry items like decent housing.

Of course if you actually look at the troops who are based in Iraq and Afghanistan you'll find that few will actually get the rebate as they don't pay council tax, as such, as they don't own/rent property in the UK.

All in all another piece of Labour Spin to cover up their inadequacies.


3000 Troops Could Start Coming Home From Iraq By Christmas (from The Herald )

Honour the Covenant - Take Action

Coming from a service family (My Father served in the RAF for 35 years) and having also married into a Service Family (Father-in-Law and Brother-in-Law both having served or serving in the Royal Marines), the action being taken by the British Legion is close to my heart.

My Father and Father-in-Law were also heavily involved in SSAFA (Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help) after they retired and understood many of the problems that service personnel faced when they left the services either voluntarily or because of injury.

Previously I had talked about this under the title "Neglected and Let Down"

A little story from My Father-in-Law, a few days ago, shows how the Covenant is strong within the Services themselves but this seldom applies to the government.

My Father-in-Law has been very ill recently and has been amazed at the amount of contact/help he has received from comrades, both those who have kept in contact and those whom he had lost contact with during the time since he retired. Contacts have been renewed around the world and many wishes for his recovery have been received. Help has been offered both from local people and those living further afield. This culminated in a recent phone call from an old comrade Sir Steuart Pringle, former Commandant General of the Royal Marines and President of the Royal Marines Association wishing him well and reminiscing about when they had served together.

Contrast this with the government's attitude that they are quite willing to ignore their responsibilities and pay lip service to honouring the Covenant that they promise to each and every serving person.

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair between them have taken us into war in Iraq and Afghanistan with little understanding of the outcome of these decisions and the long term effects it has on people in the services.

Their attitude is that they are tools to be used and then to be disposed of as cheaply as possible.

You can all help current and ex serving personnel by supporting the British Legion campaign or volunteering for SSAFA

The Royal British Legion - Honour the Covenant - Take Action

'Forget Iraq, think Afghanistan'

Following on from a previous post we have the attached article.
Instead, of finishing off the work in Iraq the Brownites prefer to concentrate their energy on promoting the case for Britain's continued involvement in Afghanistan, which, they argue, has a more legitimate claim to be the front line in what was not so long ago known as the war on terror.

In one quote it maybe sums up all that is wrong with Gordon Brown and his government

This radical change of tack is best epitomised by the approach taken by David Miliband, the new Foreign Secretary, in setting out his foreign policy priorities.

As he boasts in this week's Spectator, he decided that his first visit outside Europe should be to Afghanistan and Pakistan because British interests are directly under threat from the activities of terror groups operating on both sides of the 1,500-mile border between the two countries.

By contrast, the fate of Iraq seems hardly to figure in his calculations, to the extent that senior Foreign Office officials privately complain that their new boss finds it difficult to stifle a yawn whenever the subject is raised at policy briefing sessions.

Yes the bad news is rolling in so just ignore it and it will go away. How often can Labour keep doing this to us?

'Forget Iraq, think Afghanistan' - Telegraph

Gagged by the Clunking Fist

Having allowed the sailors who were captured in Iran to sell their stories the MOD is now gagging the armed services from speaking out about conditions they are serving under. The use of forums, bulletin boards and blogs to do this has been increasing in the past months as conditions and the casualty rates have been increasing.

Let us wonder who might have prompted this "modernised" policy. The great "clunking fist" of Broon seems to be the most likely source as he attempts to control the political quagmire that is Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unfortunately for him, the stories and details of what is happening there are more and more coming into the public arena, particularly from members of the armed forces who have served in the area and have returned to the UK, who are passing on details to their friends and relatives. The true extent of casualties is coming out and the conditions and problems they are encountering are becoming well known.

This attempt to gag the Armed Forces will I predict backfire as the feelings in the Services are rising. The ability to post and blog anonymously is rather easy even from Iraq. Expect an increase in blogging from this area.

Update: Also have a look at this link in the Register which has some good comments about the effectiveness of this gagging order.

Update 2: Perhaps the new rules have been put in place because the MOD army of 1000 PR personnel is not quite getting it right and "bad" stories are appearing more frequently.

Also pop along to AARSE for some more discussion on this.

MoD issues gag order on armed forces | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

British Forces at War: An American Tribute

After the Battle: “Squaddie” from 5 Platoon, 2nd Battalion, “The Rifles” Battle Group.


Via Rogue Gunner the following article starts:

Basra, Iraq

The explosions from enemy rockets and mortar fire have been constant companions for the small contingent of Coalition forces based at the former Basra Palace, on the banks of Shatt al Arab River. In the past five months, more than a thousand bombs have been fired at this small base, all while these British combat troops, Romanian soldiers and a small contingent of Americans continue their attempts to stabilize Iraq. The nearby US Regional Embassy office also is frequently targeted.

A dramatic surge in IDF attacks (indirect fire: rockets and mortars) began here in September 2006, subsequent an increase in British troops. Locals cite Iranian influence behind the attacks, while British officers say this is the most IDF’d base in Iraq. The dozens of bombs that exploded on the base in the first five days of my embed with a British infantry platoon punctuated those claims.

Full article continues:

Smoking Gun is Coming

Chris Ames author of the Iraq Dossier site has an article in Comment is Free section of the Guardian about the probable release of the first version or Williams version of the Iraq Dossier that has led to the death of 650,000 people in Iraq and the current civil war that exists there.

His contention is that this version has no mention of the infamous "45 minutes" claim that was apparently inserted later to "sex" up the document so that Blair could "legitimately" go to war.

Its release may be very embarrassing for many people in government and could be the final nail in Tony Blair's legacy.

British backtrack on Iraq death toll

The Independent reports that British government officials have backed the methods used by scientists who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion, the BBC reported yesterday.

The Government publicly rejected the findings, published in The Lancet in October. But the BBC said documents obtained under freedom of information legislation showed advisers concluded that the much-criticised study had used sound methods.

The researchers, reflecting the inherent uncertainties in such extrapolations, said they were 95 per cent certain that the real number of deaths lay somewhere between 392,979 and 942,636.

The conclusion, based on interviews and not a body count, was disputed by some experts, and rejected by the US and British governments. But the chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, Roy Anderson, described the methods used in the study as "robust" and "close to best practice". Another official said it was "a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones".

So the government after trashing the report with no reason, apart from it was not what they wanted reported, have been advised by their top officials that the death toll is more than likely correct.

This is a shocking figure and will forever be the legacy of Bush and Blair who have dragged us into this conflict with no thought to the likely outcome.

British backtrack on Iraq death toll - Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Blair finally admits full scale of war casualties

Tony Blair has been for a long time embarrassed by his decision to take the country into war in Iraq. No more telling example of this is in the article above. Extracts below:

The Independent has learned the figures will show that 114 British soldiers were seriously hurt in Iraq from 2004, compared to 46 during the invasion of 2003.

In Afghanistan, the figures reveal that the casualty rate rose last year to 30 seriously hurt, compared to two for the previous year. The rise was caused by a Taliban offensive last summer, and raised fears that it could rise sharply again when the next, expected, offensive gets underway.

Last night, MPs on all sides called for figures on the wounded to initiate a debate about how British casualties are treated at home. Some MPs contrasted how UK casualties returned home with little publicity whereas in America returning casualties are treated as war heroes.

The refusal to publish casualty figures has helped the impact of both conflicts on communities across the country to be underestimated. In many cases, seriously injured soldiers have had to cope with loss of limbs.

One final point on the article is the following:

The publication of the figures next week is unlikely to end the row. Some campaigners believe they are suspiciously low, but the MoD will insist they are as accurate as possible. They have been processed by the Defence Analytical Services Agency. "It has been a massive job," said one source.

The only bit of this that has been massive has been getting Mr Blair to acknowledge these figures, he would still rather have them covered up. He cannot admit he was wrong.

I also note that he has come out in favour of the Falkland War, which has it's 25th anniversary this year. Speaking to the historian Simon Schama on a website interview he said:

(Mr Blair) agreed it had been a "scary gamble". "But when I look back, yes, I have got no doubt it was the right thing to do," he said."But for reasons, not simply to do with British sovereignty, but also because I think there was a principle at stake which is that... a land shouldn't be annexed in that way and people shouldn't be put under a different rule in that way." He noted that the British casualty figures were higher than those for the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. When you look back on it and you talk to the people who were there at the time, and as I say I wasn't even in Parliament at the time, but I think it took a lot of political courage actually to do that."

You should note the the line in bold where Mr Blair tries to justify his invasion of Iraq, This man is unbelievable!

It is well to remember that in 1982 Mr Blair was a member of CND and would have called the Islands Malvinas and demanded United Nations authority etc etc.

In addition we have the following again from the Independent:

Wives of serving soldiers being made to 'feel like second-class citizens':
The wives of British servicemen feel they are treated like "second-class citizens" and regarded as an "irritation" by the military establishment while being left to cope alone with the constant fear of their partner being killed.

Just one more embarrassment for Mr Blair.

Wives of serving soldiers being made to 'feel like second-class citizens'

Ministers finally admit full scale of war casualties