Airstrip One

Not Good

On a more joyous note, I would like to congratulate the Secretary of State for Defence, the Right Honourable Geoffrey Hoon M.P. for the singular honour that the Pentagon has bestowed in the form of the Distinguished Public Service Award.

Our Defence Secretary appears, for the moment, to have dodged the arrows of misfortune, unlike Sgt. Stephen Roberts.

On another tape released by his wife, Samantha, he said: "We are now back into one of the camps to up-armour, which again is a bit of a joke in itself because they are running out of the frontal armour.

"It will be interesting to see what armour I actually get. I will keep you posted," he added.

With the correct equipment, he would have survived:

A pathologist's report found that the bullet would have been stopped by a specialist body vest, which had ceramic plates to cover the heart and aorta. Roberts had been ordered to give up the vest to a soldier deemed more at risk, and Roberts was left with standard armour.

We have noted the equipment and logistical failures within the army and this is more damning evidence of their consequences: the needless death of British soldiers. Although the principle of ministerial responsibility is no longer worth a damn, and Secretaries of Defence nee War never resigned over the deaths of the poor bloody soldiers, there is a chilling hypocrisy over the acceptance of this award whilst these tapes are being aired.

(23.10, 15th January 2004)