The Labour Party has now cut the armed forces to the bone with three deploymentss yesterday, the Ministry of Defence announced that 600 troops of the 2nd Bn The Rifles would be sent to Kosovo to quell Serbian disturbances. The length of deployment is for thirty days, but if the disturbances last, this will take longer.
Britain now has no reserves.
"The Army will be holding its breath and hoping that there is no severe deterioration in the security situation," said Nick Harvey, the Lib Dem defence spokesman. "With a further deployment in Kosovo it is hard to see how the simultaneous operations in Iraq, Afghanistan are remotely sustainable, even in the short term." He called for a Strategic Defence Review "as a matter of urgency" in order to "better match resources with our commitments".