Gen Sir Mike Jackson attacks US over Iraq
By Con Coughlin and Neil Tweedie (Daily Telegraph - where they still practice actual journalism)
Last Updated: 12:18am BST 02/09/2007
General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army during the invasion of Iraq, has launched a scathing attack on the United States for the way it handled the post-war administration of the country.
The former chief of the general staff said the approach taken by Donald Rumsfeld, the then US defence secretary, was "intellectually bankrupt"*, describing his claim that US forces "don't do nation-building" as "nonsensical".
Sir Mike's comments - made in his forthcoming autobiography Soldier, serialised exclusively in The Daily Telegraph - represent the most outspoken criticism of American military policy in Iraq to come from a senior British officer.
His attack - the first time he has revealed the depth of his anger towards the US administration - highlights the deep-seated tension between the British command and the Pentagon during the build-up to and the aftermath of the Iraq campaign in 2003.
Sir Mike, who took command of the British Army one month before US-led forces invaded Iraq, said Mr Rumsfeld was "one of those most responsible for the current situation in Iraq".
Crucially, the general writes, he refused to deploy enough troops to maintain law and order after the collapse of Saddam's regime, and discarded detailed plans for the post-conflict administration of Iraq that had been drawn up by the US State Department.
In the book, Sir Mike says he believes the entire US approach to tackling global terrorism is "inadequate" because it relies too heavily on military power at the expense of nation-building and diplomacy.
The rest in the Daily Telegraph (UK) is here ...
Joining the ranks with some of our own home growed, left leaning, pinko loosers:
What he hell could THEY possibly know, anyway? Obviously a bunch of hippy-libertards who have no idea what it means to support our troops!
* "Intellectually bankrupt" is a polite, British way of saying ""F@&%ing stupid".
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