Ministers Told of Iraq Kit Risk

According to the article "Ministers told of Iraq kit risk - armed forces chief," published Monday February 1st on BBC news, ministers were warned before the UK sent troops to Iraq that the military would not have time to prepare for the war. Equipment shortages, especially a lack of body armor, were blamed for the deaths of many British soldiers in the Iraq war. The head of the armed forces, Sir. Jock Stirrup, is now arguing that, if the military had been given more time to prepare, British lives could have been saved. He also says that there was a communications problem between London and the forces on the ground, and that London wasn't fully informed of the severity of equipment shortages once the war began.

This article relates to our theme of public policy. The Iraq war was an extremely unpopular piece of public policy that destroyed Tony Blair's popularity. In this article, the head of armed forces is arguing that, had the government given the military more time to prepare, the war might not resulted in so many deaths, and thus might not have been so unpopular. This is also important to the upcoming election. The Iraq war is connected to the Labour party. If this inquiry convinces people that Blair's administration was responsible for deaths in Iraq through poor public policy, it could hurt the party.

Photo credit to St. John's College Democrats

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