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U.K. troops must leave Iraq: General

Hasan Suroor

Forces' presence stoking extremism, he says

LONDON: The British Government was on Friday reeling under an unprecedented attack on its Iraq policy from none other than its own Army Chief, General Richard Dannatt, after he said that the continued presence of foreign troops in Iraq was "exacerbating'' violent extremism both at home and abroad, and called for withdrawal of British soldiers.

In remarks that were compared to a political bombshell, General Dannatt directly contradicted Prime Minister Tony Blair's claims saying that British troops were in Iraq without the consent of the Iraqi people. They "weren't invited'' and "we... effectively kicked the door in'', he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Call for quick exit

"Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance,'' the General added, calling for British troops to be pulled out "sometime soon''.

His call for a quick exit from Iraq came barely weeks after Mr. Blair, addressing the Labour Party conference, insisted that a withdrawal from Iraq at this stage would amount to a "craven act of surrender that will put our future security in deepest peril.''

General Dannatt 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.'' He questioned the post-war strategy and said the history would judge it to be "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning.''

Although the growing disquiet in the armed forces over the way things are going in Iraq has been an open secret, this is the first time that such a senior figure has publicly spoken out. In a BBC interview, he explained that his aim was to "speak up for what is right for the army'' and denied a "chasm'' with the Government.

Downing Street insisted that British troops were in Iraq at the "express wish'' of the Iraqi Government and had the "mandate of a U.N. resolution.'' Critics seized on the General's remarks to pile on pressure on the Government to review its Iraq strategy saying that it was "collapsing brick by brick'', as one Opposition leader put it.

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