Gold9472
08-20-2007, 12:31 PM
'Cover-up' over casualties in Afghanistan
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/20/nafg120.xml
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:02am BST 20/08/2007
The Government was accused of hiding the true casualty rate of troops in Afghanistan yesterday as it emerged that nearly one in two soldiers fighting on the front line had been wounded.
The Conservatives claimed that the Ministry of Defence was guilty of deception and not giving the full picture on the number of wounded despite being asked to do so in Parliamentary questions.
The shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said there was a discrepancy over the recording of casualties and claimed that the rate was far higher than Government figures.
Although the Government had promised to give the Tories fuller information on the number of wounded it had never arrived, he said.
The row broke as the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said troops were currently operating on the limit.
The Chief of the General Staff was visiting troops at Camp Price in Gereshk, southwestern Afghanistan yesterday. He said the mounting death toll in the country should not overshadow the success forces were having on the ground.
Military sources yesterday put the number of Servicemen injured on the front line at 700 out of 1,500 combat troops since April. Medical conditions included shrapnel wounds, cuts, burns, heat stroke and diarrhoea.
Mr Fox said there was a vast discrepancy over recording casualties. The American reported nine wounded for every fatality whereas the British reported three wounded for every dead soldier. "We believe the casualty rate is higher than the Government is reporting," he told the BBC's The World This Weekend.
On the same programme Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces minister, hit back. "What possible motive would there be for anyone in Government to hide casualty figures?" he said. "It's complete and utter nonsense to suggest that we do. We are not hiding casualty figures for Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else."
He added that the MoD released a comprehensive list on the internet every fortnight of casualty figures for those wounded in action or suffering illnesses.
Doctors would rather do their job than the "bureaucratic nonsense" of recording every time someone suffered a minor injury or illness, he said.
The latest MoD figures showed that since 2001 there have been 751 personnel admitted to field hospitals for various ailments and 70 troops have been killed. More than 25,000 have served in Afghanistan over the period. An MoD spokesman said: "While we do not publish statistics for all personnel who require minor treatment, we do record details for all personnel who are admitted to our field hospitals with more serious injuries and with diseases."
Gen Dannatt admitted that his troops were "certainly stretched" and doing more work than he would like.
"We can be busy, we can be stretched, we can run hot - provided we are looking after individuals," he said in his first comments about the Army's operations since he admitted last year that the presence of British soldiers was sometimes part of the problem in Iraq.
Yesterday he said he felt "pride and admiration" for the young soldiers who were "winning our tactical engagements".
"Of course, tragically, we take casualties from time to time. I don't want to get into a numbers count, but the Taliban have taken a lot more casualties than we have," he said.
Amid headlines comparing casualty figures in Helmand province to those in the Second World War, the Chief of the General Staff said it would be a "tragedy" if the public did not realise the significance of what soldiers are doing there.
"Yes of course this is tough, and in a tough fight we are bound, from time to time, to have fatalities and of course that's tragic," he said.
He added that battles being fought at a platoon level in Afghanistan were "very, very intense" and could have been replicated in Normandy in 1944 or during the Korean War.
"It is really, really intense, it is life-threatening, it is life-taking here in Afghanistan," he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/20/nafg120.xml
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 4:02am BST 20/08/2007
The Government was accused of hiding the true casualty rate of troops in Afghanistan yesterday as it emerged that nearly one in two soldiers fighting on the front line had been wounded.
The Conservatives claimed that the Ministry of Defence was guilty of deception and not giving the full picture on the number of wounded despite being asked to do so in Parliamentary questions.
The shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said there was a discrepancy over the recording of casualties and claimed that the rate was far higher than Government figures.
Although the Government had promised to give the Tories fuller information on the number of wounded it had never arrived, he said.
The row broke as the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said troops were currently operating on the limit.
The Chief of the General Staff was visiting troops at Camp Price in Gereshk, southwestern Afghanistan yesterday. He said the mounting death toll in the country should not overshadow the success forces were having on the ground.
Military sources yesterday put the number of Servicemen injured on the front line at 700 out of 1,500 combat troops since April. Medical conditions included shrapnel wounds, cuts, burns, heat stroke and diarrhoea.
Mr Fox said there was a vast discrepancy over recording casualties. The American reported nine wounded for every fatality whereas the British reported three wounded for every dead soldier. "We believe the casualty rate is higher than the Government is reporting," he told the BBC's The World This Weekend.
On the same programme Bob Ainsworth, the Armed Forces minister, hit back. "What possible motive would there be for anyone in Government to hide casualty figures?" he said. "It's complete and utter nonsense to suggest that we do. We are not hiding casualty figures for Afghanistan, Iraq or anywhere else."
He added that the MoD released a comprehensive list on the internet every fortnight of casualty figures for those wounded in action or suffering illnesses.
Doctors would rather do their job than the "bureaucratic nonsense" of recording every time someone suffered a minor injury or illness, he said.
The latest MoD figures showed that since 2001 there have been 751 personnel admitted to field hospitals for various ailments and 70 troops have been killed. More than 25,000 have served in Afghanistan over the period. An MoD spokesman said: "While we do not publish statistics for all personnel who require minor treatment, we do record details for all personnel who are admitted to our field hospitals with more serious injuries and with diseases."
Gen Dannatt admitted that his troops were "certainly stretched" and doing more work than he would like.
"We can be busy, we can be stretched, we can run hot - provided we are looking after individuals," he said in his first comments about the Army's operations since he admitted last year that the presence of British soldiers was sometimes part of the problem in Iraq.
Yesterday he said he felt "pride and admiration" for the young soldiers who were "winning our tactical engagements".
"Of course, tragically, we take casualties from time to time. I don't want to get into a numbers count, but the Taliban have taken a lot more casualties than we have," he said.
Amid headlines comparing casualty figures in Helmand province to those in the Second World War, the Chief of the General Staff said it would be a "tragedy" if the public did not realise the significance of what soldiers are doing there.
"Yes of course this is tough, and in a tough fight we are bound, from time to time, to have fatalities and of course that's tragic," he said.
He added that battles being fought at a platoon level in Afghanistan were "very, very intense" and could have been replicated in Normandy in 1944 or during the Korean War.
"It is really, really intense, it is life-threatening, it is life-taking here in Afghanistan," he said.