From those wonderful people who gave you Iraq

I have no idea whether we have enough helicopters in Afghanistan. Like most people my only knowledge of what is going on out there comes from the Press and TV.

As some of the Press are almost political organs for one party or another and the BBC, under New Labour, has become virtually a state broadcaster, even that information cannot be relied on as completely accurate with no embellishment or omission. These days there are agendas everywhere.

When we get a former minister responsible for the region, Lord Malloch-Brown, saying we don't have enough helicopters followed by No 10 issuing "clarification" on "misrepresentation" of what he said - which is New Labour speak for he might have said it and it might of been reported accurately and might even be true but it is not what he meant to say - then the feeling in the old water grows.

As a rule of thumb if you work on the basis that active politicians caught out telling the truth are probably only doing it because they thought it was a lie then you can't go far wrong.

Whether the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan are right or wrong is irrelevant. Whether we like it or not the Government sent our troops out there to fight in our name so we have a responsibility to give them the best chance of coming home alive that we can.

So when it comes to if we enough helicopters who would you rather believe the generals and commanders trying to keep their men alive and the lads on the ground fighting to survive - the professional soldiers who know what they have been asked to do and what they need to do it - or those wonderful people who brought you Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, 45 minute warnings, dodgy dossiers and who even decided Dr Kelly committed suicide without having to resort to anything so tedious as an inquest.

Easy decision really.