Retired Lieut Col Dan Harvey said the Defence Forces is "broken" and "in crisis" with "morale at an all-time low," because they are "overlooked and undervalued, overworked, underpaid, over-stretched and undermanned."

Putting troops through battleground training exercises involving live bullets and grenades has been severely curtailed due to the lack of suitably-qualified officers.

To maintain the integrity of the British royal honours system Freddie Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has been relieved of his knighthood by order of Queen Elizabeth II.

THE only soldier convicted over the death of Iraqi hotel worker Baha Mousa yesterday described widespread abuse of prisoners by British troops, including an officer.

US MARINES fired a rocket and dropped a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on the Fallujah mosque compound yesterday as they found themselves mired in street battles that have left almost 300 people dead in three days of the type of warfare that generals had dreaded.