It’s one thing when a retired military officer appears on TV to suggest that troops be withdrawn from Iraq. When General Sir [tag]Richard Dannatt[/tag], chief of the British Army (the British equivalent of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), makes the argument publicly, it’s a far bigger deal.
The Army could ‘break’ if it is kept too long in Iraq and British troops should be withdrawn ‘soon’, the head of the Army has said today.
In a devastating broadside at [tag]Tony Blair[/tag]’s foreign policy, General Sir Richard [tag]Dannatt[/tag] said: “I want an Army in five years time and 10 years time. Don’t let’s break it on this one. Let’s keep an eye on time.”
His comments come after an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, where Sir Richard warned that the continuing presence of British troops “exacerbates the security problems” in [tag]Iraq[/tag] and added that a “moral and spiritual vacuum” has opened up in British society, which is allowing Muslim extremists to undermine “our accepted way of life.”
Dannatt added that post-invasion planning for the war in Iraq was “poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning.”
This is no small acknowledgement. As the Daily Mail noted, Dannatt views will send “shockwaves” through the British government, and represent “a total repudiation of the Prime Minister.” For that matter, as Digby noted, Dannatt’s comments have prompted speculation that he “is going to have to be fired.”
With that in mind, Dannatt is subtly trying to back-pedal.
He insisted he had said “nothing new or noteworthy” in his interview with the tabloid and was just repeating policy.
“It was never my intention to have this hoo ha, which people have thoroughly enjoyed overnight, trying to suggest there is a chasm between myself and the prime minister,” he told the British Broadcasting Corp.
No, of course not. All Dannatt said was that troop presence in Iraq is making matters worse in Iraq and tearing at the social fabric of Britain, and that troop withdrawal needs to get underway. Tony Blair says the exact opposite on all of these points. Who said anything about a “chasm”?
I don’t know if Dannatt will be forced to resign, or perhaps retract his comments altogether, but I have to appreciate the fact that he made the remarks while still in a leadership role. In the U.S. model, we get frank, candid admissions like these all the time — just as soon as the officials leave government and become private citizens.
If more current officials spoke out like Dannatt did, we might be more likely to have policy changes. At a minimum, we’d get a more productive debate.
One more thing: Kevin Drum flagged an important side note to this story last night, when he noted that Dannatt wrote a secret memo a couple of weeks ago about getting out of Iraq, and transferring troops into Afghanistan, where there’s still at least some hope for the future. It seems likely that Dannatt’s comments to the Daily Mail were made out of frustration when his memo was rejected.
Now, if we can only get some of his American counterparts to say they agree with his remarks…