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U.S. army is racist, claims British officer

Richard Norton-Taylor and Jamie Wilson

Military policy alienating Iraqis

Richard Norton-Taylor

and Jamie Wilson

London/Washington: A senior British officer has criticised the U.S. army for its conduct in Iraq, accusing it of institutional racism, moral righteousness, misplaced optimism, and of being ill-suited to engage in counter-militancy operations.

The blistering critique, by Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who was the second most senior officer responsible for training Iraqi security forces, reflects criticism and frustration voiced by British commanders about American military tactics.

Startling comments

What is startling is the severity of his comments — and the decision by Military Review, a U.S. army magazine, to publish them.

American soldiers, says Brig. Aylwin-Foster, were ``almost unfailingly courteous and considerate''. But he says ``at times their cultural insensitivity, almost certainly inadvertent, arguably amounted to institutional racism''. The U.S. army, he says, is imbued with an unparalleled sense of patriotism, duty, passion and talent. ``Yet it seemed weighed down by bureaucracy, a stiflingly hierarchical outlook, a predisposition to offensive operations and a sense that duty required all issues to be confronted head-on.''

While U.S. officers in Iraq criticised their allies for being too reluctant to use force, their strategy was ``to kill or capture all terrorists and insurgents: they saw military destruction of the enemy as a strategic goal in its own right''. Such an unsophisticated approach is counter-productive, exacerbating the task the U.S. faced by alienating sections of the population, he argues.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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