NO ONE can doubt that Britain’s armed forces are the best in the world. If only we could say the same for the government that has sent them ill-equipped and undermanned into one of the most protracted and bitterly-fought wars. The bloody conflict in Afghanistan has been raging since 2001, and casualties are mounting unnecessarily.
That’s why today the Daily Sport is launching the campaign to Bring Our Boys Back.
If our Prime Minister can’t send his countrymen into battle with enough ground support and the best kit available, then it’s time he brought themhome. Week after week Gordon Brown insists our troops have everythingtheyneed.Butthat is clearly not the case.
Sgt Paul McAleese, the son of SAS hero John McAleese, is just one brave soldier who lost his life in Afghanistan while scrabbling to find the cash to pay for his own kit. Other troops are being forced to stump up cash for their own boots, goggles and lightweight ballistic vests.
Wasted
Sgt McAleese’s father-inlaw Stephen Minter blasted MPs for allowing this to happen. He said: “Soldiers can't claim the kit they buy with their own money back on expenses, they even have to pay VAT on it. “You have lads who are 18 or 19 years old getting killed in Afghanistan whose wages are probably not even the£20,000 or £30,000 a year these MPs can claim in expenses.”
Other soldiers are being killed because the MoD has wasted millions on helicopters they can’t fly and anti-mine devices they can’t fit properly. A British-made anti-bomb device, the Self-Protection Adaptive Roller Kit, SPARK, is collecting dust on MoD shelves because the Army does not have the mounting kit needed to fit them to military vehicles.
The device could save dozens of soldiers from being blasted by the Taliban’s home-made explosives if theMoDhadn’t mothballed them. Likewise the government has wasted £259 million on eight Chinook helicopters for which they failed to buy the correct software, believing they could do it themselves at a fraction of the cost. They have sat in hangars since 2001 after falling short of the UK’s military airworthiness standards.
Recent figures have revealed that the UK spends less per head equipping its soldiers than either of the other major forces in the region. The US spends nearly £463,000 for each of its 61,950 soldiers. In comparison, the UK spends just £288,889 for the 9,000 troops in Afghanistan’s most dangerous area, Helmand Province.
This is why we have launched an online petition to bring our troops back. Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik is backing us. He said: “This is an unwinnable war even with the British Army which is the best military force in that region. For all the efforts in hearts and minds, we’re losing to guns and bombs simply because we’re regarded as an occupying force by a very resilient insurgency. “I don’t think we can overcome the underlying opposition to our presence there.
No country has ever succeeded in doing what we’re trying to do in Afghanistan. There’s got to be a better way to bring peace.” Also lending his support to our campaign is Labour backbencher Paul Flynn. The MP for Newport in Wales said: “Britain has paid an unfair price in blood and treasure.
We have suffered more than our fair share of deaths and serious injuries. The total of fatalities from all other 19 European countries is 218, less than the total of 219 British dead. It’s time to bring our soldiers home from this bloody futility.”
In recent months the media spotlight has been on the smallmarket townof Wootton Basset, Wiltshire. Few Brits outside of the area would have heard of the place. But lately locals have lined the streets on an almost weekly basis to pay their respects to fallen heroes.
If you want to see all our lads brought safely home sign our petition to the Prime Minister by clicking on the link below.
When we have 10,000 signatures we’ll send it to Downing Street and demanding Mr Brown finally put an end to this bloody war.
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