The cleansing truth

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 341 

 

Before we reach final judgements of the Afghan and Iraq we need to discover the truth. Yesterday I tabled the 22 questions below. On Thursday I  raised the new evidence of the negligent way we stumbled into the Helmand disaster. The media failed to report the PASC report fully because of other distractions. One day the the awful scale of the Helmand calamity will be discovered. We need the cleansing power of the truth.

 

Paul Flynn (Newport West, Labour)

In the first five years of the Afghan war, only two British soldiers died in conflict. As a consequence of the incursion into Helmand province that figure is now 341. When can we debate the report of the Public Administration Committee that shows the appallingly trivial reasons why that decision was taken, which proves that the incursion into Helmand was a blunder on the scale of the charge of the Light Brigade, but with three times as many British deaths?

George Young (Leader of the House of Commons, House of Commons)

Obviously, I regret any loss of life in Afghanistan. I believe that the House debated this issue, on a motion tabled by the Backbench Business Committee, in September. The new Government will respond formally in due course to the Select Committee report, which welcomed their aspirations to think more strategically through the National Security Council.

 

The 22 written questions are summarised here:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his department conducted an investigation into an incident on 10 November 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which a patrol listed as 1 Coy Coldstream Guards reportedly killed a driver who failed to stop and a local civilian received a gunshot wound to the chest; when was this investigation conducted; which part of his department conducted the investigation, and if he will put a copy of the results of the investigation in the Library.

 

An incident on 30 September 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which a platoon from B Company, 4th Battalion The Rifles, called in an air strike, reportedly leading to multiple casualties;

An incident on 28 May 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which a patrol from A Company, 2nd Battalion The Rifles, reportedly shot at a car and a passenger was left bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound.

An incident on 19 May 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which Gurkhas mentoring a police unit reportedly called in a Harrier air strike after an ambush resulting in a laser-guided bomb killing eight civilians and destroying a compound, leading to compensation being paid to relatives and the land-owner.

An incident on 26 March 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which W Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, reportedly shot and wounded a motorcyclist for observing the patrol, subsequently ascertaining that he was mentally ill.

 

An incident on 27 January 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which W Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, reportedly shot at two people watching the patrol resulting in a man and a child receiving gunshot wounds.

An incident on 19 January 2009 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which Y Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, called in a Reaper drone to launch Hellfire missile on alleged Taliban after which two children were reportedly brought to a coalition military base with shrapnel wounds to their abdomen. 

An incident on 3 January 2009 in Helmand, Aghanistan in which British mentors with the Afghan army allegedly fired a warning rifle-shot at a suspicious person which accidentally hit a local pedestrian.

An investigation into the conduct of the Coldstream Guards in Afghanistan in October and November 2007 in relation to allegations of wounding and killing civilians in and around Kabul. 

An incident on 30 December 2009 in Helmand, Aghanistan in which W Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines reportedly fired a warning shot at a white van and wounded a 12-year-old boy passenger from a ricochet.

An incident on 24 December 2009 in Helmand, Aghanistan in which L Company, 42 Commando Royal Marines, in clearing a route of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), reportedly shot at an approaching vehicle and wounded the occupant.

An incident on 4 December 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which W Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, reportedly shot and wounded a man and then discovered he was not an insurgent.

An incident on 29 November 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which a police patrol mentored by UK troops reportedly shot at a vehicle driven by another Afghan policeman and his daughter was allegedly shot in the leg.

An incident on 19 November 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which soldiers from J Company, 42 Commando Royal Marines reportedly fired warning shots at a vehicle approaching a convoy and reportedly killed a child.

An incident on 22 October 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan which a soldier in a British squad mentoring Afghan army reportedly killed a motorcyclist for driving at speed towards them.

An incident on 14 October 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which Y Company 45 Commando Royal Marines reportedly hit a motorcyclist at a roadblock after a warning shot ricochet.

An incident on 12 March 2008 in Helmand, Afghanistan in which ambushed troops reportedly called in gunships after a soldier was wounded and the bodies of two women and two children subsequently reportedly found.

An incident on 6 November 2007 in Kabul, Afghanistan in which a son of an Afghan general was reportedly killed by a warning shot from an unidentified UK company.

An incident on 25 October 2007 in Kabul, Afghanistan in which a vehicle reportedly failed to stop for unidentified patrol and a warning shot was reportedly fired by British soldier which ricocheted and subsequently struck a non-combatant.

An incident on 21 October 2007 in Kabul, Afghanistan in which an unidentified British vehicle with a gunner on top reportedly wounded three civilian interpreters in a private security company vehicle.

An incident on 4 October 2007 in Kabul in Afghanistan in which British soldiers reportedly wounded a non-combatant with a warning shot. 

An incident on 15 November 2006 in Helmand Province in Afghanistan in which a Royal Marines Commando patrol reportedly fired warning shots at a white Hilux vehicle resulting in the death of two civilians and two civilians being wounded.

 

 

Comments

[Kay Tie]

Paul, a fascinating piece in the NYT on drugs. The social damage the law is doing there is horrendous. And the perverse incentives for the police is making it so much worse. They are calling it New Jim Crow Laws because of the disproportionate effect on poor Black and Hispanic people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/opinion/23blow.html

We have our own "softer" version of exactly the same thing here. It's almost enough to make you weep: a society turning on itself and ripping itself apart. For nothing.

[buster]

this is nothing new kaytie.
the drug and alcohol wars have always been against poor or minority people.
we all know the biggest dealers in the world are mainly rich white people yet our prisons are mainly full of poor white kids and minorities.the same as the usa.

stop and searches have always targeted poor white or minority people in deprived areas.
you will never see stop and searches in well of areas.

drugs are imported into this country by white rich drug dealers who are never arrested.
there are millions of tons of drugs imported yearly into the uk to fund the habits of millions of users.
how do poor people,poorly educated organise internationally the importation and distribution of drugs in the uk?
they dont.

like the usa poor people and immigrants have always been scapegoats for the distribution of drugs.

there are white rich people earning billions in this country from drugs yet they are able to live like royalty and hide this money from the tax man and law agencies.
this is only possible if allowed by the people who are supposedly fighting the war on drugs.

the only big dealers caught in the uk are from poor backgrounds or foreigners.

have you ever heard of a big pin getting caught who is white and well off?

howard marks is a prime example.
his main connections who enabled him to operate his drug empire were rich established familes from the uk who he'd met in university.they gave him everything he needed to operate nationally.

today,3/4 of the uks prisons are full of muslim men.
the last 10yrs the muslim society has been targeted by law agencies.
was this so we would see all muslims as criminals and not have a problem with what is unlawfully happening in iraq and afghanistan.
muslims have been demonised the last 10 years so we think all muslims are evil.
we have always made our enemy to be demons so we can conquer and control them.
we enslaved black people using this excuse.

uk law agencies are racist and even admit being so.

drugs allow government agencies and private companies budgets of billion to fight an unwinnable war.
so things will never change.

if drugs were legal they would lose this money and thats never going to happen

[Kay Tie]

"this is nothing new kaytie."

No, it's not. But what is new is the way the truth is starting to seep into the mainstream media (the New York Times!) and into the public consciousness.

"today,3/4 of the uks prisons are full of muslim men."

That's not true. In fact, it's so far from true that you must have got your numbers from some very odd sources. The figures I found from HMPS for 2003 are 8% and for 2008 it was 12%. This is much larger than the Muslim population as a whole (which in 2008 was 4%) but this is partly due to in-prison conversion to Islam (which in turn might be explained by the prison regime for Muslim prisoners).

I think you need to get a proper perspective on things. Numbers help to do this.

[Air Force 1]

Took me time to learn the whole guide, the report is wonderful however the feedback carry extra brainstorm suggestions, with thanks.

[Paul Flynn]

The claim about Muslims in prisons is BNP crap based on the belief that when you want to lie, you tell a whopper.

[Kay Tie]

"The claim about Muslims in prisons is BNP crap"

I hope you're not referring to my comments. I actually read the HMPS report.