Desert military lessons ‘not learned’ amid plans for Iraq war
LESSONS FROM an £83m desert exercise by British soldiers had still not been learned as troops prepared for war in Iraq, said a damning Whitehall report published during this week of 2003.
The inadequacies of equipment and clothing during Operation Saif Sareea in Oman 18 months previously – which saw tanks halted by sand and troops short of essential kit – were criticised by spending watchdog the National Audit Office.
It came as a Yorkshire soldier already in Kuwait preparing for the impending Iraq war became the latest in a long line of troops to reveal that his unit was struggling without vital supplies of boots, clothing and equipment.
The Bradford man had written home to his horrified mother telling of inadequate food and appalling conditions, detailing problems with everything from biological warfare protection to food. She said the new report showed nothing had been learned since Operation Saif Sareea.
The report into the autumn 2001 desert exercise highlighted some of the issues that had still not been addressed.
In Oman, soldiers’ boots melted under the sun, artillery guns could not be moved during the day, radios did not work and tanks could not cope with the heat and dust.
The report said: “The exercise produced new lessons but also showed areas, such as the under-provisioning of spares, in which lessons from past exercises and operations had not been learned.”
The report said some equipment which failed had still not been modified more than a year after the exercise, and the Ministry of Defence needed to speed up its work.
It said the decision not to equip all troops with desert equipment had been a major blunder that affected morale, and the Ministry needed to ensure it did not happen again.
■ Meanwhile US defence secretary Donal Rumsfeld said the United States could go to war without Britain.
The prospect was raised amid continuing international deadlock over Iraq. Frustrated Tony Blair hit out at French and Russian threats to veto a new UN resolution that could trigger war.
The PM needed the legitimacy of that resolution to quell growing unease within the Labour Party.
British Muslim groups and Iraqi exiles united to condemn any military action against Saddam Hussein.
Led by the Labour MP for Halifax Alice Mahon, humanitarian organisations, charities, academics and political parties insisted Tony Blair and George Bush had not yet made the case for war.
■ In other news, steelworkers were braced for fresh job cuts and plant closures after a grim warning by steel giant Corus of a “significant” reduction in capacity. The Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, which had axed 12,000 jobs in the space of four years, said it had to reverse losses in its British operation which would “inevitably” lead to significant further capacity reductions and concentration of operations at fewer sites.
The Week That Was March 12 - 18, 2003
■ Oxford University’s last all- female college, St Hilda’s, maintained more than a century of tradition by voting not to admit men.
The college’s governing body was understood to have decided to stay as a single-sex college by just one vote following protests from students.
In recent years the college, which was founded in 1893, had faced problems attracting students and fellows because of its unique status.
The exercise produced new lessons but also showed areas in which lessons had not been learned.
I DID not watch the Oprah Winfrey programme as the trailers had been sufficient for me to see how two bitter people showed just how vicious they could be.
Harry is a total disappointment, and though I thought Meghan was lovely when she came to the UK, I now have a completely different view.
She is not a team player, nor was she an A list star (unlike Grace Kelly). She has, however, had a big part in a tawdry show and seems to have learnt her lines very well.
Did the ‘‘amazing’’ Oprah ask about her father and half-sister
– they are family after all, albeit not royal? Why was there no mention of this as she evidently had disputes with them prior to and after the wedding?
I thought the British public had welcomed her warmly and personally I never read the offensive articles regarding race.
However, it regrettably exists, not only in this country but all over the world, and hopefully this will be addressed in time.
No one has been the subject of more vitriol from the media than Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, but she overcame that with dignity. Meghan has created a can of worms and I do think the American President’s press aide should have shown dignity in not commenting.