Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff for the British Army, has told a British newspaper that the presence of British soldiers in Iraq is making the security situation worse.
An excerpt from the BBC story:
(Dannatt) is quoted as saying the British should "get out some time soon".
He also said: "Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003, effectively kicked the door in."
There are currently more than 7,000 British soldiers in Iraq, based largely in Basra in the south of the country.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said Britain had "a clear strategy" and worked with international partners "in support of the democratically elected government of Iraq, under a clear UN mandate."
BBC political editor Nick Robinson described Sir Richard's remarks as "quite extraordinary".
He said the new head of British army was "effectively saying we are making the situation worse in Iraq and worse for ourselves around the world by being in Iraq".
"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
Sir Richard DannattThe comments "directly contradicted so much of what the government had said", our correspondent added.
Sir Richard might be issuing a "very public warning" to the next prime minister, he said.
In his interview, Sir Richard added that any initial tolerance "has largely turned to intolerance. That is a fact."
Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".
So what does that say about the U.S. presence there?
Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff for the British Army, has told a British newspaper that the presence of British soldiers in Iraq is making the security situation worse.
An excerpt from the BBC story:
(Dannatt) is quoted as saying the British should "get out some time soon".
He also said: "Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003, effectively kicked the door in."
There are currently more than 7,000 British soldiers in Iraq, based largely in Basra in the south of the country.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said Britain had "a clear strategy" and worked with international partners "in support of the democratically elected government of Iraq, under a clear UN mandate."
BBC political editor Nick Robinson described Sir Richard's remarks as "quite extraordinary".
He said the new head of British army was "effectively saying we are making the situation worse in Iraq and worse for ourselves around the world by being in Iraq".
The comments "directly contradicted so much of what the government had said", our correspondent added.
Sir Richard might be issuing a "very public warning" to the next prime minister, he said.
In his interview, Sir Richard added that any initial tolerance "has largely turned to intolerance. That is a fact."
Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".
So what does that say about the U.S. presence there?
Update
Gen. Dannatt didn't take long to clarify. Here's what he told the BBC:
Sir Richard told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme his comments in the newspaper interview about Iraq "were neither substantially new or substantially newsworthy".
'Hoo-ha'
"It was never my intention to have this hoo-ha which people have thoroughly enjoyed overnight in trying to suggest there is a chasm between myself as head of the Army and the prime minister or between myself as head of the Army and the secretary of state for defence," he said.
Sir Richard also explained what he meant about pulling out of Iraq "sometime soon".
"Given that we've been in Iraq for some three and 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," he said.
He added: "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."
He said the view that the presence of UK troops "exacerbates" the problems was "not right across the country", but in parts of it.
Update 2
British Prime Minister Tony Blair didn't sack Dannatt; instead, he agreed with what the general said -- uh, in the BBC interviews. :) An excerpt from the BBC story:
Speaking in St Andrews at the end of talks on Northern Ireland, the prime minister said the reason the government had been able to so far give up two provinces to Iraqi control was "precisely because the job has been done there".
He refused to be drawn on whether he agreed with quotes from Sir Richard published in the Daily Mail, saying only that later TV and radio interviews given by the general were more in context.
Tony Blair says he agrees with Sir Richard Dannatt's comments
On the transcripts of those interviews Mr Blair said: "I agree with every word of it."
"He sets in proper context what he is actually saying. What he is saying about wanting the British forces out of Iraq is precisely the same as we're all saying. Our strategy is to withdraw from Iraq when the job is done."
Mr Blair said when Sir Richard talked about the troops' presence exacerbating problems in Iraq, he thought he was "absolutely right".
"I've said the same myself, in circumstances where the Iraqis are ready to take over control of areas and we're still there."
In places like Basra, the presence of British troops was still "absolutely necessary", he said.