Army chief wants Iraq pullout

The new head of the British Army has said troops in Iraq are making the security situation worse and that they should be withdrawn "soon".In an unprecedented attack on Government policy, General Sir Richard Dannatt blames British troop presence in Iraq for turning tolerance there into "intolerance".And he blames the Iraq war for driving the problems associated with the wider war on terror. 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."Gen Dannatt, who became Chief of the General Staff in August, said: "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear."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. The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in."Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance."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 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."Andrew Burgin, of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "He has articulated what we have been saying for a long period now: that the presence of the British forces is exacerbating the security problems in Iraq itself."We would be honoured to invite him to speak at the next Stop the War demonstration."He has made a very powerful case for the troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and he is exactly right."

ITN | October 13, 2006

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