Ex Military chief exposes two Labour PMs war failings

[Infinite Chaos]

A former head of the Army has accused Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of letting down UK troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gen Sir Richard Dannatt criticised Mr Brown for inadequate funding and said Mr Blair lacked the "moral courage" to make his chancellor deliver money.

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He sparked a row when he acted as a defence adviser to the Conservatives after stepping down from the armed forces.

But last month the former Army chief revealed he had quit the role when David Cameron became prime minister.

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The Sunday Telegraph reports that in his book, Sir Richard said evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction - the justification for Britain's involvement in the 2003 invasion of the country - was "most uncompelling" and the planning for the aftermath of war an "abject failure".

And while the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) provided a "good framework" for defence policy in the Labour years, he said it was "fatally flawed" by being underfunded by Mr Brown's Treasury and could not cope with the strains of deploying troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time. BBC News

This isolates Bair's position even further that his intelligence on Iraq was compelling, it also exposes further some of the leadership paralysis at the Labour Govt once Blair and Brown couldn't work together any further. Both these men let the armed forces down - Blair sent the troops on a false mission into Iraq while his chancellor refused to make sure the troops had sufficient equipment to do the job.

And being the military - our people did the best they could and didn't complain.

This also exposes Brown further in my eyes - he stood up and raided the pensions pot in 1998/99 for which we will all pay for years to come and then pretended that he had ensured the military had not been underfunded or sent in without proper equipment after this first came to light.