Tony Blairs slight of hand. Or just another Labour Party Lie? regards nous.


Extra Battle Group For Afghanistan Monday February 26, 06:18 PM

An extra 1,400 British troops are to be sent to Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Des Browne has confirmed that an additional battle group is going to the south of the country.

The extra troops will include an infantry battalion from the Royal Welsh Regiment and a detachment of Warrier armoured cars from the Ist Battalion, The Scots Guards.

The will also be additional artillery and more aircraft including Harrier jump jets and helicopters.

There are currently more than 6,000 British forces in Afghanistan, as part of a NATO force.

The additional deployment will bring the total to around 7,700.

The first group will go in May.

They will be based in Helmand Province in the south of the country to help in the fight against the Taliban.

The move follows an admission by Mr Browne that attempts at persuading other NATO partners, such as France and Germany, to increase their contributions had failed.

He told MPs: "Our mission in Afghanistan faces serious challenges and the country faces serious problems.

"Only we and a small number of allies are prepared to step forward."

Mr Browne acknowledged that the level of missions around the world were putting pressure on the armed forces.

But he said that both he and the chiefs of staff were confident that the additional commitment to Afghanistan was "manageable".

It comes after Tony Blair's disclosure last week that the British deployment in Iraq was being reduced by 1,600.

"armoured cars"! Some of these journos don't know their arse from their elbow.

"The Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle has the speed and performance to keep up with Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks over the most difficult terrain, and the firepower and armour to support infantry in the assault. A highly successful armoured fighting vehicle, Warrior can be fitted with Enhanced Armour and is continuously being updated; for example, the Battle-group Thermal Imager (BTI) is being fitted to increase its night-fighting capability.
Warrior infantry command and section vehicles carry a turret mounted 30 mm Rarden cannon that will defeat light armoured vehicles out to 1,500 m. An 8x magnification image-intensifying night sight is fitted, and eight 94 mm Light Anti-Armour Weapon (LAW) HEAT rockets can be stowed in the vehicle.

Warrior variants include artillery observation post vehicle (OPV) and command post vehicle (CPV), and a Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers (REME) recovery and repair vehicle. All variants are equipped with a 7.62 mm chain gun. Both chain gun and Rarden cannon have an anti-helicopter capability."

We see on the news that the UK is taking 1500 troops out of Iraq.

That makes for a good sound bite until you add that those troops are going to Afghanistan.

Yes that was the intended message