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13/10/2006
Army chief says troops should be pulled out of Iraq
The head of the British army has called for a pullout of UK troops from Iraq "sometime soon."
General Sir Richard Dannatt told the Daily Mail that planning for the post-war phase of the military offensive was based more on "optimism" than sound planning.
Sir Richard told the newspaper Britain should "gets ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates security problems".
Anti-war campaigners have praised Sir Richard's comments.
Sir Richard, who took over as the Chief of Staff six weeks ago, urged the Prime Minister Tony Blair to give up his ambition to see a liberal democracy established in Iraq and settle for a "lower ambition."
Mr Blair and the US President George W Bush both insist that troops must stay in Iraq until Iraqi security forces are able to stand up to insurgents on their own.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme Sir Richard said: "Given that we've been in Iraq for some three and a half years now, quite a long length of time, and that's put a fair pressure on ourselves - as indeed it's putting a pressure on our coalition partners - then when the mission is substantially done we should leave.
"We don't want to be there another two, three, four, five, years. We've got to think about this in terms of a reasonable length of time."
Sir Richard said that Britain had essentially overstayed its welcome in Iraq.
However Downing Street issued a statement which 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."
(CD/SP)
General Sir Richard Dannatt told the Daily Mail that planning for the post-war phase of the military offensive was based more on "optimism" than sound planning.
Sir Richard told the newspaper Britain should "gets ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates security problems".
Anti-war campaigners have praised Sir Richard's comments.
Sir Richard, who took over as the Chief of Staff six weeks ago, urged the Prime Minister Tony Blair to give up his ambition to see a liberal democracy established in Iraq and settle for a "lower ambition."
Mr Blair and the US President George W Bush both insist that troops must stay in Iraq until Iraqi security forces are able to stand up to insurgents on their own.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme Sir Richard said: "Given that we've been in Iraq for some three and a half years now, quite a long length of time, and that's put a fair pressure on ourselves - as indeed it's putting a pressure on our coalition partners - then when the mission is substantially done we should leave.
"We don't want to be there another two, three, four, five, years. We've got to think about this in terms of a reasonable length of time."
Sir Richard said that Britain had essentially overstayed its welcome in Iraq.
However Downing Street issued a statement which 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."
(CD/SP)
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