UK General calls for cut & run

[Jim Devine <jdevine03@xxxxxxxxx>]

Reaction to call for UK Iraq exit [from the BBC]


Sir Richard's believes UK troops in Iraq are stretched
The head of the British Army has said the presence of UK armed forces
in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems".

Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, has said the British
should "get out some time soon".

His comments have prompted a wide range of views, some of them reflected here.

MAJOR GENERAL PATRICK CORDINGLY

"I think it is a very brave thing for him to say. I do agree. I think
there comes a time when you have got to let Iraq get on and look after
its own security.

"Training has gone on to get the police and army forces working, there
has to be a time when we do pull out.

"Maybe the General is thinking that if we had a few more troops in
southern Afghanistan we might tip the balance there."

DOWNING STREET

"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."

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

"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."

ROSE GENTLE, MOTHER OF SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ

"It's absolutely brilliant, I'm glad someone has finally said something.

"We have said all along that our boys are not helping by being out
there, they are causing it. I'm glad the Army has stood up for itself.

"I hope Tony Blair sees sense now and brings our boys home, because
it's their lives that are in danger.

"I'm just really delighted that Sir Richard Dannatt has stood up and
spoken out. He is protecting our boys.

"We have been saying for two years this needed to happen and I think
military families have done a good bit."

--
Jim Devine / "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only
an international crime; it is the supreme international crime
differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself
the accumulated evil of the whole." -- Nuremberg Tribunal