The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
LONDON (Reuters) - The mother of a young British soldier killed in Iraq says she intends to sue the Ministry of Defence for negligence because it failed to supply him with hi-tech defensive equipment.
Gordon Gentle, 19, was killed in Basra when his convoy was hit by a bomb in June. He is one of 65 British soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-led war in March, 2003.
Gentle's mother Rose said she believes her son's life could have been saved if his patrol had been equipped with an electronic signal jamming device to stop the bomb being detonated.
"I am planning to sue the Ministry and I'm putting it down to neglect," she told Reuters on Monday.
"They've definitely got something to answer for because I believe my son would be alive today if he had this equipment."
The Guardian newspaper on Monday quoted the family's barrister, John Cooper, as saying he was optimistic the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had a case to answer.
"The MoD has a duty to provide soldiers with the equipment to protect themselves and carry out their duties with the minimum risk to themselves," Cooper told the Guardian.
"If they do not provide that equipment, then that is a breach of their duty," Cooper said.
An MoD spokesman said he could not talk in detail about defensive equipment provided to soldiers.
"We will obviously have to wait for any action Mrs Gentle wishes to take," the spokesman said.
"We extend our sympathies to the family."
Gentle and her daughter Maxine, 14, stormed out of a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in disgust last week after delivering a letter demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Gentle said Prescott had talked "a lot of rubbish" and that she had felt "sick" after receiving a condolence letter from Prime Minister Tony Blair -- seven weeks after losing her son.
The MoD came under fire during the war from lawmakers who said it failed to supply British troops with some vital equipment, including body armour.
The criticisms were supported by Britain's public spending watchdog last December, which said troops lacked key pieces of equipment when they were deployed to Iraq.
- - - - - - - -
So, what do you think?
This was taken from Yahoo News, by the way.
Gordon Gentle, 19, was killed in Basra when his convoy was hit by a bomb in June. He is one of 65 British soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of the U.S.-led war in March, 2003.
Gentle's mother Rose said she believes her son's life could have been saved if his patrol had been equipped with an electronic signal jamming device to stop the bomb being detonated.
"I am planning to sue the Ministry and I'm putting it down to neglect," she told Reuters on Monday.
"They've definitely got something to answer for because I believe my son would be alive today if he had this equipment."
The Guardian newspaper on Monday quoted the family's barrister, John Cooper, as saying he was optimistic the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had a case to answer.
"The MoD has a duty to provide soldiers with the equipment to protect themselves and carry out their duties with the minimum risk to themselves," Cooper told the Guardian.
"If they do not provide that equipment, then that is a breach of their duty," Cooper said.
An MoD spokesman said he could not talk in detail about defensive equipment provided to soldiers.
"We will obviously have to wait for any action Mrs Gentle wishes to take," the spokesman said.
"We extend our sympathies to the family."
Gentle and her daughter Maxine, 14, stormed out of a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in disgust last week after delivering a letter demanding the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
Gentle said Prescott had talked "a lot of rubbish" and that she had felt "sick" after receiving a condolence letter from Prime Minister Tony Blair -- seven weeks after losing her son.
The MoD came under fire during the war from lawmakers who said it failed to supply British troops with some vital equipment, including body armour.
The criticisms were supported by Britain's public spending watchdog last December, which said troops lacked key pieces of equipment when they were deployed to Iraq.
- - - - - - - -
So, what do you think?
This was taken from Yahoo News, by the way.
Page:
Cyclone wrote:
> Hang on, an electric jamming device that stops bombs
> exploding?
>
> Right.
They do exist, bomb disposal units in the military carry them. However, if I remember rightly, these jamming devices only work in short bursts and are mainly for use whilst trying to deactivate or dispose of a bomb, they can jam signals for only a couple of minutes at best, and obviously you have to know there is a bomb in the first place. And you have to assume that it is a bomb triggered by a radio wave signal and not some other means like an internal clock, or even a fuse.
Which would have made no difference whatsoever in this case as they obviously did not know there was a bomb in place.
So yes, it is stupid but understandable that in their grief they want to blame someone for their loss - how withdrawing troops does anything for their loss I do not know, surely it means all the loss is in vain if we simply up sticks and leave to let the rebels and other terrorists have their own country? Hell why not just hand it over to Iran and be done with it eh?
We don't have a conscript army, everyone in it is there by choice. Which is why it is insane for people to make comments like "there would be no war if Blair's sons were in the army" (a comment made by that family) and similar has been made by Moore to US Senators for his Fahrenheit film. We don't have conscripts, nor do the Americans.
It's not on that our troops sometimes do not have what they need and should have, but in this case, going on the public facts, the only way this could have been prevented would be for them to be in something like a Warrior. In Northern Ireland the RUC, army and other security forces were plagued by such roadside devices and had little success combating them.
> Hang on, an electric jamming device that stops bombs
> exploding?
>
> Right.
They do exist, bomb disposal units in the military carry them. However, if I remember rightly, these jamming devices only work in short bursts and are mainly for use whilst trying to deactivate or dispose of a bomb, they can jam signals for only a couple of minutes at best, and obviously you have to know there is a bomb in the first place. And you have to assume that it is a bomb triggered by a radio wave signal and not some other means like an internal clock, or even a fuse.
Which would have made no difference whatsoever in this case as they obviously did not know there was a bomb in place.
So yes, it is stupid but understandable that in their grief they want to blame someone for their loss - how withdrawing troops does anything for their loss I do not know, surely it means all the loss is in vain if we simply up sticks and leave to let the rebels and other terrorists have their own country? Hell why not just hand it over to Iran and be done with it eh?
We don't have a conscript army, everyone in it is there by choice. Which is why it is insane for people to make comments like "there would be no war if Blair's sons were in the army" (a comment made by that family) and similar has been made by Moore to US Senators for his Fahrenheit film. We don't have conscripts, nor do the Americans.
It's not on that our troops sometimes do not have what they need and should have, but in this case, going on the public facts, the only way this could have been prevented would be for them to be in something like a Warrior. In Northern Ireland the RUC, army and other security forces were plagued by such roadside devices and had little success combating them.
Hang on, an electric jamming device that stops bombs exploding?
Right.
Right.
She's right to sue them, it's bad enough they go out there in the first place but to go without the proper equipment is not right, the MOD should be held responsible for it's mistakes.
Yep, im pretty much with monkey_man here, people die in wars.
If you dont want to die, dont go.
If you dont want to die, dont go.
It's a war, people die. Any Iraqi can tell you that as they receive the £200 alloted to the families of civilians that have been killed by us. A surprising fact about war is that armies use guns and explosives to subdue an opposing force into surrender. If he didn't want to take the chance of getting killed, no matter what the equipment situation, then he shouldn't have gone, or shouldn't have joined the Army in the first place.
Yeah I do like it, I like it a lot.
I went ahead and compiled an album of my own stuff which is going on eBay dude - I put ThisSideUp in the credits and linked to the site, hopefully it'll pull in some more fans for you.
I went ahead and compiled an album of my own stuff which is going on eBay dude - I put ThisSideUp in the credits and linked to the site, hopefully it'll pull in some more fans for you.
Do you like it then?
I'm not so sure now. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. But then that was the whole point of the track :-)
I'm not so sure now. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't. But then that was the whole point of the track :-)
On another totally unrelated note, YH, Double Poetry rocks my socks.
Surely all the money wasted on whatever trial type thing will ensue, and any compensation that is given out will simply result in even less money for the MoD....
Y'know, I'm totally anti war when it comes to Iraq. You may have noticed that. And I do believe our troops were woefully underequipped. But suing because of it...? Nah; too much like the American "blame somebody for everything" culture for my liking.
Page: