U.K. Army Boss Wants Troops Out Of Iraq

Head Of British Army Says Having Foreign Soldiers In Iraq Is Making The Situation Worse

(CBS/AP)  Britain's new army commander said British troops in Iraq are making the situation worse and must leave the country soon, calling Prime Minister Tony Blair's policies "naive," according to an interview published Thursday.

"Our presence exacerbates the security problems," Gen. Richard Dannatt was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail newspaper. The interview was released on the tabloid's Web site.

"Whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance," he said, according to the report.

The Defense Ministry responded to the interview by saying "we have a clear strategy in Iraq. We are there with our international partners in supports of the democratically-elected government of Iraq, under a clear U.N. mandate."

Blair's office said it couldn't immediately comment.

Dannatt's comments are certain to infuriate Blair, who has steadfastly backed U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, saying it was morally right. The comments are highly unusual — it is unprecedented for a sitting British military commander to publicly criticize the government's foreign policy.

Dannatt's remarks, coupled with recent criticism of the Iraq war from Republican Sen. John Warner and former Secretary of State James Baker, has created a new urgency and new dynamics to the question of whether the United States should be in Iraq, reported CBS News White House correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Dannatt said that Britain's presence in the country was "exacerbating" security problems domestically, contrary to Blair's stated claims that the war in Iraq had no link to the terror threat facing Britain.

"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.

Dannatt, who took over as army commander in late August, described Blair's Iraq policies as "naive," the report said.

He said we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems," according to the interview.

"We are in a Muslim country, and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear," he was quoted as saying. "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."

In the interview, Dannatt was severely critical of British and U.S. planning for postwar Iraq, describing the rationale behind the invasion as flawed.

"I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning," he said. "The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East.

"That was the hope. Whether that was a sensible or naive hope, history will judge. I don't think we are going to do that. I think we should aim for a lower ambition."

[exusmcsgt]

pulgoso1-

May I ask for the definition of gu? Thanks.

[pulgoso1]

I think this is fantastic! Finally a gu with Cojones.

[exusmcsgt]

antoniorego-

Polls would indicate that you represent only 10% of Brits.......

[exusmcsgt]

cafepinot-

UN inspectors were not allowed to finish the job because their findings would have revealed Bush, et.al.'s false pretext for invading Iraq.

[cafepinot]

As an American living in Europe, I am astounded by the naivete. W backed out of treaties, destroyed our moral standing, rushed to war, built Guantanamo, spied on Americans and felt his Administration was above the law. In '03, I led a group of American ex-pats marching with Iraqi exile brothers asking only that UN inspectors be given time to find WMDs. A war entered on that premise became one of liberation, killed 500,000+ Iraqis, maimed thousands of coalition soldiers and killed more than 9-11. This is what history will remember of this born again, dry drunk, neo-con president.

[themartyred]

THANK GOD! THIS WILL BEGIN THE END OF THE IRAQ WAR - MARK MY WORDS!

Such a sensible man to step forward from the venerable heritage most of us have ancestry from, and say ENOUGH bring em home before another gets killed in the sand!

This war was a boondoggle for Halliburton from the start, it took focus away from Osama, now lets send a large portion of those troops BACK into Afgh, to finish the

REAL
JOB!

[frankly6]

Stay the course. Support our troops. Freedumns on the march. 9/11 9/11. Don't cut-n-run.

All out of slogans? Feeling a litttle disoriented? Read "How to Be A Good Republican" chapter 3 "When Spinning Makes You Dizzy".

[mh4cbs1]

During the months before the Bush Invastion, there were literally hundreds of thousands of American citizens who took the time to march through the streets of Washington DC, NYC, and many other cities across our nation.

Unfortunately, we antiwar protesters were not covered by the mainstream media, who chose to blindly play cheerleaders for Bush. Experienced Senators like Robert Byrd, and many scholars spoke out strongly and forcefully with warnings of what was to come in Iraq - but CBS and the corporate media gave them no voice. Phil Donahue was fired from NBC for his antiwar questioning.

If you were paying attention to PNAC, bogus WMD claims, the Axis of Evil speeches, it was quite obvious that the American people were flat-out being lied to. The only surprising thing about Iraq has been the extent to which Bush exploited 9-11 to brazenly Lie and Scare his way into an Invasion, the extent to which the media played blind cheerleaders for Bush, and the silence of our fellow citizens.

If you don't think America could become fascist, think again. People are finally coming around to understand they have been duped, but it has been one close call and it isn't over yet.

[bluestardad]

It's About Time we found a General Who was not in some politician's back pocket and has had the courage to say what the situation realy is! Well Done.

[drgoodwin12]

I opposed the Iraq war from the begining,nothing added up.WMD'S,Al Queda links none of this made sense when we had former C.I.A director and various members of the pentagon and Bush adminstration(notably Colin Powell in the begining)stating the opposite.They did not possess a weapon that could hit Israel.I read Richard Clarkes book who was terrorist czar until after 9/11 .I do not support the war now however as Colin Powell said"We broke it now we have to fix it".It would be morally wrong at this point in time to either stay the course or cut and run.Neither will do the Iraqi people justice and we owe them justice for a war that should never have occurred.It is time for the generals to run this war and for a comphrensive determent policy that prevents ordinary Iraqis from becoming terrrorist,insurgents and death squad militias.It is time for our goverment to squeeze the Iraqi goverment,military and police from its ties to the insurgents,militias and terrorist.I do not want to see another drop of blood spilled but it will.This president,V.P. and secretary of defense must go as they have no vision to end the war and restore peace.Saddam was/is not a nice man but the Iraqi people did not have the daily horrors then that they do now.

[mdmorell]

This man is amazingly sensible and a refreshing voice amid calls from both administrations to "stay the line...stay the line!" I hopefully predict we will hear more and more of these calls to get out of Iraq soon from higher and higher in the food chain. If only more officials of his calibre would embrace the wisdom instead of stick there heads in the sands of Iraq.

[alphaa10-2009]

Sorry, but this blog doesn't wrap long URLs. Paste the link you copied into Notepad, straighten the line, then copy and paste that into the address block of your browser. Or simply visit Amazon and use the search bar at the top.

[alphaa10-2009]

Count on the Brits to preserve a rare sense of candor and objectivity when they need it most. Now, they say the Iraq war is made worse by foreign troops-- amazing.

But who knew, listening to our rhinestone president? Do we begin to feel the growing dread of an Enron stockholder, realizing we have been thoroughly hornswoggled?

Bush perpetrated a massive deceit on the American people, best detailed by Frank Rich in his book,
The Greatest Story Ever Sold.

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[mark44ukuk]

For many Iraqis we have just brought them death and destruction on a massive scale starting with the first Gulf War and through the terrible sanctions to the latest war and occupation. The Iraqi Government is seen as a puppet government and has no authority amongst the people. We should withdraw quickly and pay reparations for the damage caused to Iraq.

[haysglenn]

Too bad our generals don't have his good sense and integrity.