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Can British fight in Iraq?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON AUG. 1. The Government today sought to play down speculation about the British army's preparedness to take part in a military action in Iraq following an official report saying that most of the essential army equipment was unable to stand the rigours of desert warfare.

The report by the National Audit Office found that during Exercise Saif Sareena in Oman last year helicopters, self-propelled guns and heavy lifting vehicles all struggled in the heat and dust, while soldiers' boots simply fell apart or melted. The worst affected were the 66 Challenger 2 tanks which would be expected to spearhead any armoured assault in the event of a conflict.

Britain's Gulf War veterans voiced concern saying that lives could be lost if soldiers were ordered to go into a war situation with such military hardware. "This will definitely cause problems and could cost lives,'' a British officer who fought in the Gulf war told a TV channel.

The Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, Paul Keetch, called the findings "nothing short of a disgrace'', but the Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram, dismissed fears and claimed that there was no risk to British army's capabilities. He said a major programme to upgrade equipment was already under way. "The purpose of the exercise was to see if there were any weaknesses,'' he said adding that the report merely confirmed what was already known.

The report, widely described as a "catalogue'' of defects, cited specific cases of equipment breaking down because of heat and dust.

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