Interesting to hear various ministers spouting on about how much has been spent recenty on new vehicals. This is probably the least amount they could get away with!! If Gordon Brown had provided the cash initially to fund the proper level of troops to do the job, then we would have been well into the reconstrusion phase by now. By proper i mean enough to take and hold the land.The Taliban would have been pushed out of the area before they could adapt tactics and get back at us. Interesting to hear the NI troop levels, up to 15000 troops for an area 3- 4 times(ish) smaller that Helmand!! How on earth did the Goverment ever think the small Brit force that went into Helmand in 2006 could hold such a vast area with so few troops. The fact of the mater is the now Prime minister buy scrimping on the initall push has ended up paying through the nose, in cash and importantly lives!!