The Clipboard: Army chief: British troops must pull out of Iraq soon

From an article¹:

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, dropped a political bombshell last night by saying that Britain must withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk serious consequences for Iraqi and British society.

In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, Gen Dannatt said the continuing military presence in Iraq was jeopardising British security and interests around the world.

"I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them," he said in comments that met with admiration from anti-war campaigners and disbelief in some parts of Westminster. (link)

Bravo, General Dannatt! I'm surprised they didn't fire him for this.

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Complete text of the article, Army chief: British troops must pull out of Iraq soon, by Richard Norton-Taylor and Tania Branigan

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, dropped a political bombshell last night by saying that Britain must withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk serious consequences for Iraqi and British society.

In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, Gen Dannatt said the continuing military presence in Iraq was jeopardising British security and interests around the world.

"I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them," he said in comments that met with admiration from anti-war campaigners and disbelief in some parts of Westminster.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Gen Dannatt, who became chief of the general staff in August, said we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".

He added: "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear.

"As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited ... by those in Iraq at the time. The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in.

"Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance." He added that planning for the postwar phase was "poor" and the aim of imposing a liberal democracy in Iraq had been over-ambitious. He was more optimistic that "we can get it right in Afghanistan."

Such an outspoken intervention by a British army chief is unprecedented in modern times and bound to increase pressure on the government to continue making its Iraq case against a backdrop of increasing mayhem on the ground.

Mr Blair denied last month that Iraq would be safer if British troops withdrew. Downing Street said last night that Britain's 7,000 troops were in Iraq "at the express wish of the democratically elected Iraqi government", and under a UN mandate.

But Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said last night government policy on Iraq was collapsing "brick by brick". "Senior military figures who were always doubtful about action in Iraq and its aftermath are becoming increasingly anxious about ... the risks involved," he said.

There was widespread surprise at Gen Dannatt's frankness, with some backbenchers privately questioning whether he could carry on in his role after his comments. Doug Henderson, a former minister for the armed forces and ally of Gordon Brown, questioned why the general had made his thoughts public.

"One can only assume that Sir Richard has made his views known privately and that they've been ignored," he told BBC2's Newsnight programme. He said soldiers expected to have the support of the chief of the general staff, adding: "The soldiers on the frontline must be wondering why they are there now."

Kevan Jones, a Labour MP on the defence select committee, said: "There was always going to come a tipping point in Iraq, where we were no longer a solution but a problem. If General Dannatt is saying that time has been reached, that's very concerning. An interview like this, though, is not the way to say that."

In his first interview since taking the chief of staff job, Gen Dannatt told the Guardian last month that the army could only just cope with what the government was demanding of it, and said he believed ministers were taking British soldiers for granted. In the Mail interview he went further, criticising the defence secretary, Des Browne, for the "unacceptable" treatment of injured troops and warning that the government was in danger of breaking the "covenant" between a country and its army. He said he was "outraged" by reports of injured soldiers recuperating in hospital being confronted by antiwar campaigners who told them to remove their uniforms.

A devout Christian, he said a moral vacuum opening up in Britain was allowing militant Islamists to flourish.

reference=http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1921450,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1