casualties

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Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond were blown up in a Viking vehicle. This brings the numbers killed in Afghanistan to 171. Six more soldiers were seriously wounded in the same incident, adding to the hundreds wounded in action.

Inadequate equipment including vehicles such as the Viking and 'Snatch' Land Rovers are partly responsible for killing and maiming our troops. Richard North writes that 35 percent of our dead in Afghanistan have occurred in poorly-protected vehicles. When such issues are discussed in Parliament the chambers are largely bare. These are not 'important' topics whereas a subject such as fox hunting is discussed for hundreds of hours of parliamentary time to packed chambers.

The country wants to leave Afghanistan. Our politicians can't even be bothered to discuss the war properly and the procurement system is a shambles. So it really is time to leave before more lives are lost or damaged.