Head of British army calls for Iraq withdrawal

Friday, October 13, 2006 - 01:30 AM

The head of the British army today called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq “sometime soon”.

General Richard Dannatt said their presence was exacerbating security problems in Iraq and Britain’s difficulties around the world.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper, he also suggested that the British Government’s aim of creating a liberal democracy in Iraq was “naïve” and would not be achieved.

Dannatt, who became Chief of the General Staff in August, told the paper we should “get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems”.

Downing Street insisted that troops were there at the “express wish” of the Iraqi government.

But Dannatt said that Britain had “effectively kicked the door in” when troops entered during the 2003 military campaign.

“Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance,” 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.”

He said the effects of the conflict could be felt in Britain, where there was a “moral compass spinning” and the Islamist threat had to be faced up to.

British prime minister Tony Blair has maintained that troops would only be withdrawn from Iraq as the new democratically-elected administration was able to cope on its own.

But Dannatt doubted whether the original aim of creating a pro-West democracy which was a beacon of the Middle East would ever be achieved.

“I don’t think we are going to do that.” he said. “I think we should aim for a lower ambition.”

Dannatt also condemned the treatment of British soldiers in civilian wards at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.

He had confronted British Defence Secretary Des Browne about the issue, he said, adding that it was “not acceptable” for army casualties to be in mixed wards with civilians.

A Downing Street spokesperson 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.”

A British Ministry of Defence spokesman added: “We have a clear strategy in Iraq.

“We are there with our international partners, in support of the democratically elected government of Iraq, under a clear UN mandate.”