A View From Middle England - Conservative with a slight libertarian touch - For Christian charity and traditional belief - Free Enterprise NOT Covert Corporatism

Friday, February 15, 2008

The miserable parsimonious Mr.Brown!

The Ministry of Defence has long been bleating that they have given good and proper support to the British Army fighting this terrible conflict in Afghanistan. At times one wonders if King Canute has not come back to life and is secretly offering advice from a back room somewhere.

Today the Government has been heavily criticised for leaving the army so poorly resourced. Two coroners have laid into the Government by denouncing the level of support. Oxford assistant coroner Andrew Walker accused the MoD of "a breach of trust" over the death of Capt James Philippson. Mr Walker said, "They (the soldiers) were defeated not by the terrorists but by the lack of basic equipment. To send soldiers into a combat zone without basic equipment is unforgivable, inexcusable and a breach of trust between the soldiers and those who govern them."

He recorded a narrative verdict in which he said Capt Philippson was unlawfully killed. Unlawfully killed! All the time this conflict has been going on, we've had half-hearted support and weasal words. No wonder, because it comes from a government that has lied and fixed things to suit its own ends.

The MoD has admitted an "administrative error" led to a 25-day delay in getting equipment to the front line. Is this all they can come up with? The lives and deaths of our soldiers are an "admininstrative error"? Why do we let them get away with it?

The father of Capt Phillipson quite rightly says today that the previous Chancellor kept money from going to the army. He called him, "the miserable parsimonious Mr.Brown" and under the circumstances no other comment really suffices.

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