Impeach the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary

The charge should be ‘dereliction of duty’. The first duty of a government is to protect its citizens. In its maladministration of the defences of this country the government has failed to provide our forces with effective weapons, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Leaving aside whether we should be fighting illegal wars there has ben a constant stream of complaints from former ‘chiefs of staff’, notably General (Lord) Guthrie, and (muted) requests for more and better supplies from the current military leaders. For example, there were bullets that were ordered from the cheapest supplier. They did not fire properly.

Helicopters were ordered from a British company although they were much worse value than their American counterparts and deliveries were delayed. In Afghanistan, especially, shortage of helicopters – often the only relatively safe transport - put our troops at greater risk. Bad intelligence (where have we heard that before) misled our politicians into thinking that taking over in Afghanistan would be a walkover. John Reid (infamously) said “we may be able to leave without firing a shot”.

Some time later (in September 2006) Gen. James Jones, US overall military leader in Afghanistan, said that he had been surprised at the ferocity of violence in the south of Afghanistan. He said that “the opposition in some areas are not relying on traditional hit and run tactics”. This was no doubt new to someone leading forces often described as Cavalry – horses were given up after the first world war) and Marines – Afghanistan is landlocked.

Jim Addington