NEWS IN BRIEF

EUROPE

07 Jul 07. Iraq: OP TELIC. A Royal Military Police Corporal died of wounds from small arms fire in Basrah City on 7 Jul 07. (MoD,
8 Jul 07.) UK deaths since the start of the Campaign thus rose to 159, of whom 100 have been classified as Killed in Action and 23 as Died of Wounds sustained in action. (MoD, 8 Jul 07.)
The definition of torture derives from Section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, which makes it an offence for a public official to commit torture. (Ministerial Answer (MA), 9 Jul 07.)
Financial provision for Operations in Iraq during 2006/07 was £1,002m although the outturn “may be somewhat less”. (Main Estimates, 9 Jul 07.)
Comment: The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees noted (12 Jul 07) that more than four million Iraqis had been uprooted. Half of the displaced were now in Jordan or Syria. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0728, 16 Jul 07)

12 Jul 07. Afghanistan: OP HERRICK. A Guardsman from 1st Bn Grenadier Guards was killed in Southern Afghanistan on 12 Jul 07. (MoD, 12 Jul 07.) UK deaths since the start of Operations in November 2001 thus rose to 64, of whom 36 have been classified as Killed in Action and five as Died of Wounds sustained in action. (MoD, 12 Jul 07.)
Over the past year, some 25,000 mosquito nets have been provided in Afghanistan. Approximately 160,000 rounds of ammunition have been purchased for grenade machine guns. (MA, 9 Jul 07.)
Financial provision for Operations in Afghanistan during 2006/07 was £770m and “it is reasonable to assume” that the cost in 2007/08 will be at least of the same order. (Main Estimates, 9 Jul 07.)
The newly appointed Armed Forces’ Minister flew into Afghanistan (9 Jul 07) to meet UK troops. The Minister’s visit included Kandahar Air Base, Camp Bastion and Kabul. (MoD, 12 Jul 07.)
Comment: The Rt Hon R W (Bob) Ainsworth MP took over from the Rt Hon A P (Adam) Ingram MP as Armed Forces’ Minister on 29 Jun 07. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 0728, 16 Jul 07)

15 Jul 07. Miliband defends UK-US relations. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has insisted that the US will continue to be the UK’s most important partner. His assertion comes after comments from two other ministers seemed to hint at a cooling of relations with the US. “Our commitment to work with the American government in general, and the Bush administration in particular, is resolute,” Mr Miliband told the BBC. He said issues such as climate change and terrorism could only be tackled with the US. His statement came after new Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch Brown claimed the UK and the US would no longer be “joined at the hip” on foreign policy. And International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander warned in a speech against unilateralism and called for an “internationalist approach” to global problems. Some analysts considered those remarks as evidence of Labour distancing itself from the US – and the close personal ties between former Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush. But Mr Miliband rebuffed those claims, saying: “We have a strong new leader in the United Kingdom, he is going to be a valued partner with the United States. (Source: BBC)

15 Jul 07. Gordon Brown was last night under growing pressure to announce a full withdrawal of British troops from Basra after Iraq’s prime minister declared that coalition troops could leave “any time they want”. Despite violence continuing to rage in Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki yesterday insisted his forces were in a position to take full responsibility for maintaining security, although he added the police and army needed more weapons. His comments were immediately seized on as providing the Prime Minister with a perfect pretext for dramatically accelerating the withdrawal of all UK forces from Iraq. Brown was last night also urged to “cut and run” from Iraq in a hard-hitting report that concluded Britain had all but lost the war and should immediately begin planning fo