Families of soldiers demand answers over Snatch Land Rover use
04 Mar 2010
The families of soldiers who were killed operating Snatch Land
Rovers in Iraq and Afghanistan are urging those involved in the
Chilcot Inquiry to demand answers from the government regarding
their use.
Some 37 military personnel have been killed in Snatch Land Rovers
during operations in the war zones over the last four years and
their families insist they are unsuitable for the dangerous
conditions the troops have found themselves in.
The Snatch is, according to the MoD website, a protected patrol
vehicle that was originally procured for use in Northern Ireland
and was designed to withstand bricks, hand grenades and
bottles.
However, they have proved to be vulnerable to roadside bombs and
the relatives of victims are now demanding to hear from the
government why they were not replaced as soon as this became
clear.
Jocelyn Cockburn, a partner at Hodge, Jones & Allen LLP and
a lawyer acting for the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq in 2005,
told the Times that she wants Sir John Chilcot to put it to the
inquiry that cost-cutting by the government is putting troops'
lives at risk by providing them with unsuitable, unsafe
equipment.
In a letter to the inquiry chairman, she has asked him to demand of
Gordon Brown whether there were any requests for funding to
purchase armoured vehicles between 1997 and 2006 and whether any
concerns had been raised with the government regarding Snatch Land
Rovers.
"To this day the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeks to justify the use
of Snatch, saying it is 'essential' to operations. There can be no
confidence that lessons will be learnt from the armoured vehicle
debacle unless there is a public inquiry," Ms Cockburn
commented.
Snatch Land Rovers are now being slowly replaced by a Mastiff
fleet, but an inquest into four Iraq deaths has heard this week
from troops who believe it is too little, too late, calling the
Snatch fleet "mobile coffins".
They also claim they had asked for replacements but had been told
to use what they already had.
Mr Brown will appear at the Chilcot inquiry tomorrow (March 5th
2010).
In June last year, it was revealed that four families are suing the
MoD after their loved ones were killed in Snatch Land Rovers
following roadside blasts.
They claim that the MoD was negligent in not providing better
vehicles to protect its troops.
