Defence		Pictures
MoD accused of hiding real cost of Iraq war   THE Ministry of Defence has admitted that it issued misleading figures for the number of British soldiers injured in Iraq after a Scotsman investigation found that they were wildly inaccurate. John Reid, the Defence Secretary, last week claimed that about 230 UK personnel had been wounded in action in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003.
Iraq	Afghanistan	Audio
		Video: War in southern Iraq	Audio: Mortar attack Audio: Black Watch soldier killed

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REVEALED: HOW MOD BLUNDER KILLED SCOTTISH SOLDIER IN IRAQ THE first Scottish soldier to die in Iraq was killed after his aging vehicle broke down just days into the campaign, The Scotsman can disclose. Lance Corporal Barry Stephen was killed in an ambush as he and his colleagues attempted to rejoin the Black Watch mortar platoon in a heavily defended compound after going for repairs on their broken-down FV432 armoured personnel carrier.		Black Watch commander: How the MoD let us down in Iraq BLACK Watch troops were sent into battle in Iraq without the equipment they would have needed to survive had Saddam Hussein decided to use chemical or biological weapons against them.	THE SOLDIERS WHO FEAR THEY ARE FIGHTING A FORGOTTEN WAR IN THE darkness by the side of the road, Robert Grieve's Land Rover rolled over and over, bullets ripping through it and out the other side. The rocket-propelled grenade had hit the tyre and bounced off, but the force of the blast had tipped the vehicle over. As it came to rest, Grieve leaned forward just as his driver leaned back. In that moment, a bullet flashed between them, where their heads had been a second earlier
2,200 casualties; The true cost of the UK's war in Iraq THE true scale of British casualties in Iraq is revealed today after the Ministry of Defence confirmed that more than 2,200 injured British military personnel have been flown home from the Gulf since the start of the campaign.		'BRITISH TROOPS 'IN IRAQ FOR TEN YEARS' BRITISH troops may have to stay in Iraq for up to ten years to ensure security, the commanding officer of British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Basra told The Scotsman yesterday. Brigadier Nick Carter's warning came as the security situation in southern Iraq deteriorated after a day in which British troops came under sustained attack from supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtadr al- Sadr, in the town of Al Amarah.	Army under siege from a fall in recruitment THE British Army is facing a future in which it will struggle to achieve full strength for years to come, the senior officer in charge of recruitment has admitted. A decline in overt patriotism, a reluctance to accept orders or face physical hardship and an increase in the number of young people staying on in education are blamed for a slump in recruitment which has seen the army fall about 1,200 short of its target for the second year running.
Brown under attack for troop deaths and Iraq exit Gordon Brown has come under fire on both sides of the Atlantic for starving the Armed Forces of funding, leaving them struggling to fight on two fronts, in Iraq and Afghanistan.		BLACK WATCH: THE BETRAYAL OF A REGIMENT THE Black Watch yesterday began the move north towards Baghdad that will take them into one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq, uncertain of whether those who make it home will still have a regiment to call their own.	Nato will be fighting the Taliban for years, says top general NATO forces will have to remain in Afghanistan for years if they are to defeat the Taliban, one of the coalition's top generals in the country has warned.
'He turned to the helicopter and sank to his knees, then I hit him with my rockets' Caught in the middle of the Helmand river, the fleeing Taliban were paddling their boat back to shore for dear life. Smoke from the ambush they had just sprung on American special forces still hung in the air, but their attention was fixed on the two helicopter gunships that had appeared above them.		Troops sent to Iraq minus a third of essential gear THE government sent troops to war in Iraq without a third of the equipment it had identified as urgently required for operations, a critical parliamentary report has concluded. The report described the failure as "highly regrettable". In one instance, it revealed that before the Iraq war in 2003, the MoD had sold a number of all-terrain vehicles for GBP 3,000 each, having deemed them surplus to requirements, then spent GBP 17,000 apiece buying them back to be used by 16 Air Assault Brigade.	ARMY CHIEFS FEAR ALL SCOTS REGIMENTS MAY VANISH MAJOR cuts in defence spending demanded by the Treasury have forced army commanders to consider for the first time the possibility that all of Scotland's regiments may have to be replaced by one "super-regiment".
Mystery over MoD claims of 'friendly fire' billions Billions of pounds' worth of military equipment that the Government says will prevent friendly fire deaths was never designed for the role, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt
General wants change of heart over infantry cuts ABUSE PHOTOGRAPHS DESTROY GOOD WORK OF BRITISH SOLDIERS BLACK WATCH ON STANDBY FOR IRAQ RETURN AS CRISIS DEEPENS MORE SCOTS FACE LINE OF FIRE	Scots regiments keep up Iraq troop strength The death of our regiments Labour MP attacks army cuts	Warning as Royal Scots head for Iraq Two British soldiers killed in Afghanistan ARMY CHIEF IN IRAQ CONDEMNS PLANS TO CUT BACK INFANTRY	'Too many chiefs not enough indians'