Britain should pull out of Iraq soon - head of British army

[London Irish]

Great bit of journalism by the Daily Mail tomorrow (you won't hear me say that too often) but they interviewed the head of the British army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, who said our presence there is making the security situation worse.

When even the top brass turns round and tells the politicians that it is all a pile of shit, and are rather mutinously prepared to say so publicly, it's an incredible state of affairs.

The game is surely up now for Blair's squalid little war.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/a00ac3d8-5a4a-11db-8f16-0000779e2340.html

 

[perseus]

Needs some "joined up thinking".

That's a sort of buzz phrase. Not really helpful methinks, but a sign ?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Surely now, even the meglomaniac Blair can see the result of his illegal war ?

Much as I hate and despise the man I would love to see him stay on to fight the next election - it would certainly wipe that arrogant smile from his face.

Please, anyone but anyone for Prime Minister over Blair ( Basil Brush might be a good contender ! ).

 

[n1 gull]

I feel so let down by Blair. I'm happy with New Labour at home, but the foreign policy is disgusting. I can't believe they forgot to mention the different factions in Iraq and sold the whole war as a liberation.

Its a total f*ck up and he should be ashamed of himself. The worrying thing is we don't know what the next leaders view is of the conflict. Its nothing short of a disgrace. Come on Brown have some balls and tell what your opinion is?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Be very interesting to see how this pans out. Either the new army chief's comments were made with the full blessing of Blair and his cronies to pave the way for Gordon Brown to enter no. 10 without 'the elephant in the room', or the new man is now on a direct collision course with the current regime. In which case we can expect the general to be stitched up by way of a smear campaign, or to suffer a sudden bout of ill-health which forces his resignation. Maybe even a tragic accident. Watch this space.

 

[n1 gull]

Be very interesting to see how this pans out. Either the new army chief's comments were made with the full blessing of Blair and his cronies to pave the way for Gordon Brown to enter no. 10 without 'the elephant in the room', or the new man is now on a direct collision course with the current regime. In which case we can expect the general to be stitched up by way of a smear campaign, or to suffer a sudden bout of ill-health which forces his resignation. Maybe even a tragic accident. Watch this space.

Thats a very good point. I wonder if he liased with Browns advisors, so when Blair finally leaves Brown can have a get out of jail card on the table. Listening to the news this am, it sounds like no. 10 are gutted by his outburst.

Apparently this guy has very strong views and won't be silenced by government. Good bloke.

 

[tedebear]

Apparently this guy has very strong views and won't be silenced by government. Good bloke.

Very Un-English I thought!! Very blokey indeed!

I say good on him also - however I have a funny feeling this will not help the cause at all somehow...

 

[Albion Dan]

Tony Blair should be up in front of a war crimes tirbunal.

Him and his owner have caused the death of 100's of thousands of people and further destabilised the planet for decades to come.

I bet Richie Morris and Loonie still think it was a good idea though.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

I love the assertion that by having soldiers in occupation in Iraq they are likely to provoke the locals into shooting at them, and by not having soldiers in occupation in Iraq, the locals won't shoot at them.

If only we had employed this strategic brilliance in the beginning we would not have entered the "shooting at/not shooting at" conundrum in the first place.

 

[Commander]

Please, anyone but anyone for Prime Minister over Blair ( Basil Brush might be a good contender ! ).

Magoo?

 

[Biscuit]

Iraq was a mistake.
NHS in crisis
Privatisation by the back door
Pensions - kiss them goodbye


I voted for them twice. I still think Tony Blair is a good Prime Minister.. and I'd vote for the party again as long as Brown doesn't get in the hot seat.

Whatever they do, I still trust them more than the Tories.

 

[desprateseagull]

i guess that general's time is up- unless he was angling to get early retirement anyway..

if he did call his troops back, could blair do much about it?

 

[Biscuit]

i guess that general's time is up- unless he was angling to get early retirement anyway..

if he did call his troops back, could blair do much about it?

Yes. Blair could send them out again and put the General in front of a court.

 

[Man of Harveys]

Interesting one this - there's rightly never a shortage of praise and support for British armed forces on here. But here you have a very rare example of them saying "you're asking to do something here which is virtually impossible". Professional though they are, there must come a point when they have to speak out publicly about the difficulties they're facing after, presumably, being ignored by the government when they say this.

Either that...or this guy has actually been sent out by the govt. to say this and prepare the way for a fairly dishonourable retreat from a very dishonourable war...

 

[Guinness Boy]

Good for the General I say. Surely he must know what's best for his troops. Standing up and having the balls to say so rather than brush off the question with a bit of spin makes him about 1000% more honourable than Blair.

 

[London Irish]

Tony Blair should be up in front of a war crimes tirbunal.

Him and his owner have caused the death of 100's of thousands of people and further destabilised the planet for decades to come.

I bet Richie Morris and Loonie still think it was a good idea though.

Human Rights Watch has estimated Saddam Hussein's regime killed 250,000 to 290,000 people over 20 years in Iraq.

In the 3 years of the US/UK Iraq war, the Lancet medical journal says its research has concluded that 600,000 people have died from the war and its associated effects of medical shortages, massive infrastructure failure and disease. And the figure rises constantly because the security situation is still appalling.

That's some "liberation".

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Magoo?

Maybe he'd drop the tax on whiskey, which would be nice !

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

i guess that general's time is up- unless he was angling to get early retirement anyway..

if he did call his troops back, could blair do much about it?

Not even close! He has only just taken over the job, and this was completely unexpected. Considering the "steely eyed warrior" that preceeded him (Gen Sir Mike Jackson), it was more surprising that it came from him. In addition, there have been recent missives from on-high about contact with the media without approval, and this guy has just green-lighted the process.

What he says is true, and I am surprised he didn't save it for his memoirs (which is what most of them do). Medical support for our guys is crap - imagine waking up in a hospital in Selly Oak to be confronted by a Muslim who has identified you as a soldier from Iraq because they left all your kit beside your bed? The support and stores issue is well known, and the other points he makes about sliding through apathy whilst capitulating to minority viewpoints is spot on.


I would reckon that, oh, about 100% of the people I know say that being in Iraq is wrong, and that Saddam should only be the opening act for Tony and George. If the country implodes, then it implodes, we are deluding ourselves if we believe we are only holding back the floodgates of a civil war. And yes, we only encourage the rise of terrorism for every day we stay there.

This guy is a good 'un, but there is already a nasty whiff of internal spin being put on this (someone has already alluded to it) claiming that he may be sponsored in his views by government looking to withdraw. That is not the case - if you had access to the internal DefenceNet you would see the internal PR people spinning faster than turboprops to refute all of his allegations - and failing.


Oh yes -

The Lancet figures are naive in that the inlude the thousands that have died through insurgency....

 

[Pavilionaire]

Let's remember that the Conservatives, including Cameron and his mob, backed the war in Iraq, so to blame Blair personally is not fair.

Secondly, the deposition of Saddam was always going to lead to a bloodbath because of the ethnic tensions existing between Kurds, Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. The country was united only by fear of the Saddam regime.

It is clear that we and the Americans need to get out of there as soon as possible. If they want a civil war then that is their problem, not ours.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

The Lancet figures are naive in that the inlude the thousands that have died through insurgency....

can you explain this bit further HS ?