Is it pantomime time already?

[Kathyan]

Lord Malloch Brown says the army don't have enough helicopters in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown says they do. Isn't it getting like a pantomime with one saying 'oh yes they do' and the other saying 'oh no they don't'? Which one do you agree with?

[youngmafbog]

No, quirte simply Brown is an incompetant liar and probably the most hated man in the world. Remember it was him that clipped 1.5 billion so he would try and deny it.

No surprises there. Here is one man who will certainly need police protection for the rest of his life, proabably from his own party !!

What a tw*t.

[Gromit]

I am not normally one to say things should be hushed up, but the only people gaining from all this is the enemy. It must be a to the boost the morale of the enemy to see the British military and its leaders in open warfare.

I am all for open Government, but this should not be public and particularly not at this time.

And a lot of it seems to be politically motivated which is regrettable.

[leyaenda]

Its a case of points scoring by different parties.

The military is limited by the defence budget.Perhaps if they scrapped trident then they could buy a few thousand extra helicopters instead of sailing these missiles around the world underwater at great expense to the defence budget?

[sqad617]

Stop Press....

Lord Malloch Brown has changed his mind.......there are Afghanistan apparently.

He has been "got at" by No.10

[youngmafbog]

I agree with Gromit, but Brown is still a lying *%^*6

[leyaenda]

Every army through history hgas been constrained by financial resources.Whats different today?Scrap trident and use the cash for helicopters.Its not rocket science , merely not misusing funds for missiles we dont need.

[sag]

To put it simply, I believe General Richard Dannatt above the 'plebs' of this Government. As for Malloch-Brown's about turn on the subject, I do believe he has been 'got at' and wouldn't be surprised at it being Mandelson.

[Gromit]

I thought it would be interesting to find out how many helicopters the British have. The latest date I can find figures for is 2007:

Joint Helicopter Command: Helicopter Fleet as of 1 Jan 2007

38 x Apache AH Mk1
76 x Lynx AH-7/9
52 x Gazelle
25 Sea King HC4
4 x Sea King HC6
25 x Chinook HC2/2A
24 x Puma
15 x EH-101 Merlin HC3
6 x Bell 212
3 x A109

Total = 268

Of which 19 are deployed in Afghanistan

Our deployment in N.Ireland was 70 helicopters

http://www.armedforces.co.uk/army/listings/l00 52.html

[sag]

That about sums this Government up, Gromit!

[imhotep]

Look behind you Gordon!! It is! Loooook......behind you!
:)

[ELVIS68]

268 helicopters, pretty good going

Shame only 19 of them work in sandy conditions

[ummmm]

That's called politics ahmskunnirt

[Gromit]

Infundibulum,

I would normally agree with you.

It just seems incredibly bad ting to be announcing to the world and our enemies of our weaknesses.

The british do not have:

i) Enough troops
ii) enough helicopters
iii) Safe personnel carriers and have ordered new ones that have failed testa against Roadside bombs.

If these weaknesses are true, then it does not seem like a good idea to tell the people wanting to kill us.

[rov1200]

I get the feeling politicians are hiding behind the truth. Our armed forces have been gradually dwingling, the % of GDP is getting smaller, the will of many to not get caught up in these unwinnable adventures and to admit that we are no longer a world power.

Its only the like of Blair and his swashbuckling style that we are there in such huge numbers. If NATO as a force can't handle Afghanistan then we should get out and concentrate how we can hang onto Gibralter and the Falklands. They are our problems.

[Gromit]

It could be that we have been fighting above our weight for decades. Successive Governments, Tory as well as Labour have cut the military budget.

The Argentinians invaded the Falklands when we cut our Naval fleet. We had to commandeer Passenger Cruise Liners and Merchant Container ships to get out of that cut too far.

When the threat from the Cold War and Northern Ireland terrorism diminished, that led us to downsize. When our troops were next needed, we weren't adequately equipped.