Russell's Conference speech in support of Colchester soldiers
September 16, 2008 12:00 AM
Colchester MP Bob Russell used a major debate at the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in Bournemouth to speak in support of troops from the town's Garrison who are currently serving in Afghanistan.
Mr Russell - who last week returned from visiting members of 16 Air Assault Brigade in Helmand and Kandahar provinces - told delegates of the excellent work which British service men and women are doing helping with reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.
He spoke in support of a Conference Motion on "Security and Liberty in a Globalised World" which contained a specific statement committing Liberal Democrats to "support Britain's continued commitment to Afghanistan, with priority to reconstruct viable institutions and the local and national economy."
Mr Russell told Conference of his experiences in southern Afghanistan from his two visits there this year, and said that it was in the interests of "Britain, the democratic world and the Afghan people" that the Taleban was defeated.
He described how, when visiting the hospital at the British military base at Camp Bastion, he had seen a young Afghan boy on a life support machine. He had suffered serious injuries in an explosion, but thanks to the skill of medical staff from Colchester Garrison his life had been saved.
Mr Russell also spoke about the mission earlier this month when soldiers from Colchester - 13 Air Assault Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment - had transported a turbine through 50 miles of hostile territory to a power station on the Helmand River which in due course will double the supply of electricity to more than two million Afghans in Helmand and Kandahar provinces.
He paid tribute to the soldiers from Colchester Garrison who had been killed in Afghanistan, and told delegates: "It is an honour and a privilege to represent a garrison town in Parliament."
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