イギリス陸軍総参謀長【失敗した戦争・戦略から撤退せよ!】
"I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the worldare caused by our presence in Iraqbut undoubtedly our presence in Iraqexacerbates them Sir Richard DannattThe head of the British Army has defended his call for UK troops to withdraw from Iraq "sometime soon". Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt told the BBC he aimed to "speak up for what is right for the Army" and not to break ranks with the government. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said the presence of UK troops in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems". Downing Street said troops were in Iraq "at the express wish" of the Iraqi government and under a UN mandate. Meanwhile, anti-war campaigners have welcomed Sir Richard's comments and praised him for speaking out. Sir Richard told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme his comments in the newspaper interview about Iraq "were neither substantially new or substantially newsworthy". 'Hoo-ha' "It was never my intention to have this hoo-ha which people have thoroughly enjoyed overnight in trying to suggest there is a chasm between myself as head of the Army and the prime minister or between myself as head of the Army and the secretary of state for defence," he said. Sir Richard also explained what he meant about pulling out of Iraq "sometime soon". "Given that we've been in Iraq for some three and half years now, quite a long length of time, and that's put a fair pressure on ourselves - as indeed it's putting a pressure on our Coalition partners - then when the mission is substantially done we should leave," he said. He added: "We don't want to be there another two, three, four, five years. We've got to think about this in terms of a reasonable length of time." Sir Richard added that UK troops "were making progress", and out of four provinces they had looked after in the south, two had been handed over to Iraqi control. He said this and progress within the remaining two provinces meant "already our responsibilities are much reduced". He said the view that the presence of UK troops "exacerbates" the problems was "not right across the country", but in parts of it. 'Presence helping' "Currently Operation Saddam Ranka in Basra is trying to make Basra better and a lot of British soldiers are doing a really good job and in that regard their presence is helping - but there are other parts where our mere presence does exacerbates and because we're there, we're attacked," he said. In his Daily Mail interview, Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning". A Ministry of Defence spokesman said Britain had "a clear strategy" and worked with international partners "in support of the democratically elected government of Iraq, under a clear UN mandate." 'Not invited in' He said: "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." Sir Richard told the newspaper: "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 certainly by those in Iraq at the time." He added: "Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance." Downing Street issued a short statement in response to the general's comments. It said: "It's important that people remember that we are in Iraq at the express wish of the democratically elected Iraqi government, to support them under the mandate of a UN resolution." However, Sir Richard has received praise for coming forward. Major Patrick Cordingly said: "I think it is a very brave thing for him to say. I do agree. I think there comes a time when you have got to let Iraq get on and look after its own security." Rose Gentle, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, said: "I'm just really delighted that Sir Richard Dannatt has stood up and spoken out. He is protecting our boys. "We have been saying for two years this needed to happen and I think military families have done a good bit." There are currently more than 7,000 British soldiers in Iraq, based largely in Basra in the south of the country. Since the invasion in 2003, 119 British troops have been killed, most of them in southern Iraq. Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6046822.stmPublished: 2006/10/13 08:03:44 GMT