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| Britain |
| General slams 'muddling' MoD |
| 2009-08-28 |
| A FORMER head of the Armed Forces has launched a scathing attack on the Ministry of Defence over its handling of the war in Afghanistan. General Lord Charles Guthrie said our brave servicemen and women were starved of single-minded leadership because of ministers who "sit frozen in indecision". The former UK Chief of Defence Staff said: "Britain is at war, but one would never know it walking around Whitehall. For too many politicians it is merely another day of awkward things happening in far away places. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan appear no more than inconvenient blips - something to be muddled through until things return to normal." In a column in The Times newspaper Lord Guthrie wrote: "And muddle is the word, as was manifest in a scathing report into defence procurement leaked this week. Its author, the former Labour adviser Bernard Gray, an experienced observer of the defence scene, blamed incompetence and "political fudge" for £35billion of defence project overspending. "Moreover, The Times revealed that poor decisions about software have kept eight Chinook helicopters, costing a total of £259million, in climate-controlled hangars during the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. Such an error would never happen in the private sector without dismissals and a plain identification of where the buck stopped. "The revelation is all the more appalling because Chinooks are lifesavers. They are the safest way to evacuate injured soldiers from the battlefield - and a brilliant tactical device to get behind Taliban lines to confuse and mystify the enemy. Chinooks also help resupply and reinforcement where land movement is dangerous. "That we have insufficient available for our needs in Afghanistan is best explained by the size and structure of the Ministry of Defence. The department employs 87,000 civilian staff for 175,000 servicemen and women. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #1 The department employs 87,000 civilian staff for 175,000 servicemen and women. Not including those in the Ministry of Silly Walks. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-08-28 13:38 |
