Ministers sent British troops into southern Afghanistan with such tough spending limits that they were only allowed enough manpower to fight one battle a month, senior commanders revealed today.
Brigadier Ed Butler (above), the highly respected officer who led UK forces into Helmand Province in the summer of 2006, told MPs how a 'Treasury-imposed cap' left him with just 3.350 personnel to confront the Taliban. That was only enough fighting power for 'one significant operation a month' and not enough to cope with extra battles or unexpected strains, he told the Commons Defence Select Committee.
In the event his forces were beseiged by hordes of Taliban gunmen, fighting for weeks at a time in what was later described as the toughest campaign the Army had seen since the Korean War half a century ago. The public comments from the highly-decorated former head of the SAS are a severe embarrassment for the Government, as at the time ministers shrugged off accusations that they had put British soldiers' lives at risk by sending them to war with too little manpower and equipment. Former Defence Secretary John Reid famously declared in 2006 he hoped UK troops would spend three years helping reconstruct southern Afghanistan 'without firing a shot.'
But by the end of that bloody summer 41 British servicemen were dead and Tony Blair sought to make amends by publicly promising Britain's generals 'whatever package they want' to continue the war.
A 'Treasury imposed cap' Brigadier Butler called it. Who was in charge of the Treasury? The present Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who calls himself the 'honest son of the manse' with the moral compass.
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14 comments:
We can't give into all their demands Subrosa - next they'll be wanting guns!!!
Us, neanderthals and the "Missing Link", ah Gordon, bless him.
Morning scunnert. And bomb proof vehicles for goodness sake, who do they think they are.
Morning Lorenzo. I'll bet Brown's bodyguards have the latest equipment though.
Moral Compass?
Firmly up the Parliamentary side of his erse.
I don't get that Billy, you're too clever for me at this time in the morning. :) Good morning btw.
subrosa,
Good morning, young lady,
This will not come as any surprise to anyone who's spoken to military personnel whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. Still, one consolations is that no blood has been shed in the Ministry of Defence or Downing Street.
SR,
I am not at liberty to divulge further figures but troop numbers are capped, Ministers are courted daily, weekly on all that is in "The Stan" and budgets are budgets and we do what we can with what we've got.
The Government should not start wars if they are not prepared to fund them in the appropriate manner, sad isn't it? We join believing we're helping others and protecting our country and the style of life many enjoy, at the end of the day all 3 services are nothing but cannon fodder for those sat in Westmidden greatly removed from the frontline.
I long for the day that I work for the SDF and protect Scotland's interests and not that of a deluded ex-global power continually thinking it's fucking important on the World stage.
Saor Alba
Crazy D
Good morning my dear Brownlie, there's time still though.
Morning CD. It's a tragedy what's happening I know. Chin up, we're on the way ...
The BRITISH forces still do a fantastic job despite Jimmy Snot's fear of real men. Just like health workers, particularly nurses.
Dedication and love of fellow man is just not in Jim's DNA or that of any socialist. It their rag tag and bobtail of supporters that dream of Rusian/french style revolutions against the non-believers.
11 June 2009 11:13
Morning OR. It's this kind of post that alerts folks to the attitude and incompetence of Jimmy I hope and his lies about funding for the army.
CD. Good post. I totally agree. It's time Britian stopped pretending that it was an important international power. But no prime minister will ever admit that there is no reason whatsoever, apart from historical, why it should be at the top table.
By that token, Rome, Athens and Constantinople should be sitting at the top table in the UN.
If we can't afford to be involved in these wars, and clearly we can't, then it is nothing short of murder to send men, and women there, underfunded and vulnerable.
That should, in and of itself, be a war crime every bit as heinous as torture, and the Prime Ministers, and Defence Ministers involved should be in the Hague tout de suite (including that obnoxious inarticulate last ditch no-hopper toe rag that they appointed last week).
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