Downing Street Says » Injured Servicemen

Asked if the Prime Minister or any other Ministers had plans to visit servicemen injured in Iraq, the PMOS reminded journalists that Geoff Hoon had visited Selly Oak in the early stages of the Iraq operation. He had also visited the hospital at Shaibah in theatre, most recently in December. Senior military personnel had also made a number of visits. Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was acceptable for the Defence Secretary to defend his failure to visit more inured troops by minimalising the injuries as minor and commenting that some of the injuries were caused by road traffic accidents and sports, the PMOS said that he had not seen the precise comments by the Defence Secretary but while it was a fact that some of the injuries were fairly minor, there were 790 cases of UK personnel whose injuries had been caused by hostile action, accidents and other incidents. No one in any way was trying to downplay the numbers or the seriousness of many of those injuries, it was necessary however to set the facts out as clearly as possible.

Put to him that the he had not listed the Prime Minister amongst those who had visited injured servicemen, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had visited troops in theatre, most recently just before Christmas. Questioned further the PMOS confirmed that the Prime Minister had not visited a hospital here. Asked if he had any plans to, the PMOS said that he wasn’t aware of any.

Asked why the breakdown of injuries had not been made clearer by Geoff Hoon, the PMOS said that no one under-estimated the difficulty and the problems that injuries cause for those who suffer them and their families. The important thing was that we insured that the personnel themselves were given the right hospital backup and any other support that they might need. That was where Ministers had concentrated their effort and would continue to do so.

1 Comment »

One more step in the censorship regime and we will be like the USA – not reporting deaths.

The censorship of the nature of the injuries is appalling – we are allowed to have graphic details of abuse to detainees but no information on injuries to our troops.

That the PM cares nothing for the suffering of our troops was clear from the outset when he committed them to an illegal war.
Comment by Roger Huffadine — 22 Jan 2005 on 11:20 am | Link

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» Thursday, January 20, 2005

Injured Servicemen

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