Military chief gives fresh ammunition to critics

Military chief gives fresh ammunition to critics
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 13 2006 18:39 | Last updated: October 13 2006 18:39



General Sir Richard Dannatt, the new chief of the British army, has provided more ammunition to critics who accuse Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, of mismanaging the war in Iraq and urge President George W. Bush to change course.

In commenting that UK troops should leave Iraq soon because their presence “exacerbates the security problems”, Sir Richard has mirrored some of the criticisms being levelled at the US administration ahead of the critical November midterm congressional elections.

Declining support for the war has emboldened Democrats and raised concerns among some Republicans that Iraq could cause the Grand Old Party to lose control of one, or both, houses of Congress. Last week, John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate armed services committee, who is considered loyal to Mr Bush, said Iraq was “drifting sideways”. He warned that Washington might have to change course if the violence in Iraq did not subside.

Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst at the Brookings Institution and co-author of Hard Power, said the comments would have a “noticeable” impact on the debate in the US by underscoring that such a view was not an “irresponsible position”.

Sir Richard also criticised planning for postwar Iraq, saying: “History will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning.”

Mr Rumsfeld, who originally called the insurgents in Iraq a bunch of “dead-enders”, has come under heavy fire for the lack of postwar planning in Iraq. Earlier this year, several retired senior generals who had been involved in war planning or served in Iraq took the unusual step of voicing concerns about the defence secretary and calling for his resignation.

In a recent book, Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington Post reporter who broke the Watergate scandal, wrote that Andrew Card, the former chief of staff to Mr Bush, and First Lady Laura Bush had both urged Mr Bush to replace Mr Rumsfeld.

The Pentagon on Friday declined to comment, saying Sir Richard had “corrected the record”. Following the publication of his interview with the Daily Mail, Sir Richard made several media appearances in which he argued that the UK was not going to “surrender” and would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the US in Iraq.

He added that the UK was planning deployments for Iraq in 2007 and 2008.

But echoing concerns of some in the US about strains on the American military, including John McCain, the Arizona senator and frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Sir Richard said he was concerned that a prolonged deployment in Iraq could break the British army.

His comments come in the same week that US General Peter Schoomaker said the army was planning for the possibility that the US would have to keep its current level of about 140,000 troops in Iraq until 2010.

Mr Bush has repeatedly refused to provide a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq, saying the decision would be based on “conditions on the ground”.

Gen Peter Pace, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs, on Thursday told reporters that the Pentagon had hoped to make reductions in troop levels this year.

But he acknowledged that the jump in sectarian violence in Baghdad in recent months had made that impossible.