Today in Iraq: U.K. army head said to seek Iraq pullout

The Associated Press reports that Britain's top army chief called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, saying their presence "only exacerbates security problems." With the Bush Administration forecasting that U.S. troop levels will remain at 141,000 through 2010, Democrats reject President Bush's failed stay-the-course strategy and believe we need a new direction in Iraq that is both tough and smart.

U.K. army head said to seek Iraq pullout
Associated Press
By Tariq Panja
October 12, 2006

"Britain's new army chief called for a withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, warning that the military's presence there only exacerbates security problems, according to an interview published Thursday. Gen. Richard Dannatt described British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq policies as 'naive,' declaring that while Iraqis might have welcomed coalition forces following the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the goodwill has since evaporated after years of violence.

"The British military should 'get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems,' Dannatt said in an interview with the Daily Mail released on the tabloid's website. 'Whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance,' he was quoted as saying.

"Dannatt's comments are certain to infuriate Blair, who is President Bush's key ally in the Iraq war. It is highly unusual for a sitting British military commander to publicly criticize the government's foreign policy. The general's comments may signal an increasing boldness among senior military officials who fear that the army is overstretched on two fronts - Afghanistan and Iraq. Other commanders have been quoted as saying the military needs to provide greater support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan...."

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