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Delicious''Every request for equipment was met''
Friday, March 05, 2010
Denying that any request was turned down, he said he had instructed the Treasury to approve any request made by commanders.
"I said that every single request for equipment had to be met and every request was met," he said.
"At any point, commanders were able to ask for equipment that they needed and I know of no occasion when they were turned down."
Brown also claimed that he had reassured former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 that he would not rule out military options on the grounds of cost, adding: "I said immediately to the prime minister... there should be no sense that there was any financial restraint that prevented us from doing what was best for the military."
The PM also denied that he had not been kept in the dark and the intelligence briefings he had seen convinced him that the threat "had to be dealt with" and that it was the "right decision".
However, Brown said the main reason he supported the invasion was that Iraq was in breach of UN resolutions, adding that rogue states could not flout international law.
"Nobody wants to go to war, nobody wants to see innocent people die, nobody wants to see their forces put at risk," he said.
"Nobody would want to make this decision except in the gravest of circumstances where we were sure that we were doing the right thing. I think it was the right decision and made for the right reasons."
Brown also acknowledged there were "important lessons" to be learned from the Iraq aftermath.
"It was one of my regrets that I wasn't able to be more successful in pushing the Americans on this issue - that the planning for reconstruction was essential, just the same as planning for the war," he said.
Brown claimed he had warned the US government before the invasion that post-war reconstruction had to be properly planned for, adding: "I cannot take personal responsibility for everything that went wrong.
"There will be other states, rogue states, that need to change and we need to ensure civilian support as well as military support to do what's necessary when a broken state has to be rebuilt."
Why do you use "claimed"? It is as if you doubt him. Brown stated that his department prepared a paper "just before the invasion" on reconstruction. Presumeably this paper exists.
There is a suggestion that Brown and the Treasury denied requests. If this is true then please provide some evidence. Not just hearsay from military men on the ground but track it through the chain of command and the MOD through to the Treasury.
I am British, I support a very strong defence, but I do not accept, until such time as detailed evidence is produced, that requests were turned down.
I dislike Mr Brown but I used to play cricket and believe in fair play.
John Walkley - Budapest Hungary
Brown must have made sure that no requests got as far as him. Why is it that he can fund every quango, management consultant, multi-culti non-job, benefit scrounger & bogus asylum seeker, but cannot find the extra £ 2 to 3 billion a year for credible defence needs?
John Hartley - Woking/England/UK
so its the fault of the Americans,
we are in this mess . and all along i thought it was ????
well i never .
criss of herts - london
It is patently obvious that the base equipment level from which the Armed Forces started from on day 1 was inadequate.
The need to spend so much on UOR's, which are in themselves an admission of fault, just reinforce the fact that we were underfunded/under equipped for years prior to the event.
It is the duty of the Armed Forces to prepare for war, amongst other things, and to do this they must have the most modern equipment in sufficient quantities.
The former chancellor obviously realised this takes money and took a gamble ...... unfortunately this gamble was with mens lives!
Norman - UK
MAJOR UK DEFENCE CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMMES STARVED OF FUNDS 2002-2010!!
If the UK military has been supplied with sufficient funding 2002-2010, then:
1) why are basic projects such as the urgently needed Type-45 Destroyer and 'big deck' aircraft carrier programmes being so starved of funding that the resulting warships are completing construction as/designed to be commissioned as little more than floating shells- bereft of basic, industry standard offensive and ship self-defence weapons, damage control and communications systems??
2) Why have Labour committed funding for the construction of only 6 Type-45's (albeit dangerously deficiently equipped...) when more than 14- fully fitted out- are needed to replace the Royal Navy's obsolescent Type-42, Type-22 and Type-23 Destroyers/Frigates??
3) Why have Labour committed funding for only 5 Astute nuclear submarines when at least 10 of these are needed?
4) Why, during 1998-2010, has Labour overseen the reduction of Royal Navy surface combatants to a level that for the first occasion since the 1600's has left the UK with less of these types of warships than France's Navy?
.... 12 years of Labour govt gross negligence, deliberate lack of long term military force level and capabilities' planning and putting party-political histrionics ahead of national duty have left the RN an emaciated, neutered, excessively-vulnerable-to-modern-airborne-anti-ship-weapons force!!!
...resulting in the UK and its assets- particularly overseas ones- at high risk- if not inviting aggression- from both state and non-state actors world-wide...
and jeoprodizing the UK's hugely valuable, leading positions on the world's most powerful international political, financial, military and legal bodies such as Nato, the UN's security council, IMF, G8, G20 and the like...
Roderick V. Louis - Vancouver, BC, Canada
Mr Brown has been found out. He hides behind misquoted stats and half truths.
The crazy thing is I believe a strong well funded military would complete its tasks faster, more economically, both financially and with less lives lost and earn the government of the day a gold star by way of public opinion.
tim dainton - romsey