War On The Cheap

I am a believer that we should be in Afghanistan and that the mission there is worthwhile, that part of the world left to its own devices would be overrun by the Taliban and Al Qaeda in no time and then the enemy we face would have the resources of a country, a state next door to Pakistan a mess of a County crammed full of nuclear weapons. So we really do have no choice, but it is criminal that our armed forces can be sent into a warzone ill equipped. The last two weeks have seen us take huge loss’s 15 dead and up to fifty wounded some losing limbs, war as we know is a dangerous business and soldiers will be killed and injured and troops are aware of this when they sign up, but we should be looking to minimise this risk anyway we can. In a straight fire fight our troops will defeat the Taliban every time so their preferred method of attack is using IED’s these are improvised explosive devices, hidden bombs planted on roadsides in buildings even under dead bodies, this weapon has caused by far the most deaths and casualty’s. We can eliminate a big part of the dangers they face everyday by giving them the correct and the right amount of equipment. Helicopters would give our troops more freedom of movement in safety, but in typical fashion this Labour Government, unbelievably to save money are not doing so. yesterday in the commons Gordon Brown blatantly lied when he said Helicopter numbers had increased by 60% in the last 2 years, and that capability had increased by 84%, when sources in Helmund said they were at their lowest for a year. In may our whole fleet of Lynx helicopters were sent home leaving just 13 amongst 9000 troops. I know that this kind of equipment is expensive but let’s get our priority’s right in 2008 we gave away 7.8 billion pounds in foreign aid, already this year we have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on legal aid for illegal immigrants fighting to stay in this country, millions more on interpreters for these people, anybody who sets foot on these shores is entitled to housing and benefits. So let us pressure our MP’s  to do what it takes no matter what the cost to  make sure our troops are  sent into battle with whatever they need.