From The Sunday Times
August 23, 2009
Afghanistan: Wasted billions put lives at risk
Jonathan Oliver and Michael Smith
Throwing up columns of dust like a Wild West wagon train, a British Army convoy five miles long snaked through Afghanistan last week to resupply troops in the southern province of Helmand. Itâs a dangerous task â one that would be done by the RAFâs Chinook helicopters if only British commanders had enough to spare.
True to form, the Taliban struck with an improvised explosive device (IED) that ripped into a lightly armoured Viking tracked vehicle.
âEvery time you cross that wire, you are scared,â said Private Amy-Leigh Willetts, who was in the convoy. âEvery time we go out we get scared. Itâs just one of them things.â
This time they were lucky and nobody was hurt, but the troops have good reason to be fearful. A shortage of helicopters, poor transport, missing body armour and other equipment failings have been blamed for the deaths of many British soldiers caught by IEDs. Labour politicians, including Gordon Brown, have insisted that the money is available for British forces to have what they need to fight the Taliban, but this weekend The Sunday Times can reveal that an unpublished official report, suppressed by the government, has found the Ministry of Defence (MoD) so incompetent at procuring equipment that billions of pounds are being wasted, the wrong systems are being ordered and soldiersâ lives are being put at risk.
More
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6806504.ece
August 23, 2009
Afghanistan: Wasted billions put lives at risk
Jonathan Oliver and Michael Smith
Throwing up columns of dust like a Wild West wagon train, a British Army convoy five miles long snaked through Afghanistan last week to resupply troops in the southern province of Helmand. Itâs a dangerous task â one that would be done by the RAFâs Chinook helicopters if only British commanders had enough to spare.
True to form, the Taliban struck with an improvised explosive device (IED) that ripped into a lightly armoured Viking tracked vehicle.
âEvery time you cross that wire, you are scared,â said Private Amy-Leigh Willetts, who was in the convoy. âEvery time we go out we get scared. Itâs just one of them things.â
This time they were lucky and nobody was hurt, but the troops have good reason to be fearful. A shortage of helicopters, poor transport, missing body armour and other equipment failings have been blamed for the deaths of many British soldiers caught by IEDs. Labour politicians, including Gordon Brown, have insisted that the money is available for British forces to have what they need to fight the Taliban, but this weekend The Sunday Times can reveal that an unpublished official report, suppressed by the government, has found the Ministry of Defence (MoD) so incompetent at procuring equipment that billions of pounds are being wasted, the wrong systems are being ordered and soldiersâ lives are being put at risk.
More
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6806504.ece