By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, October 13, 2006; 9:32 AM
LONDON, Oct. 13 -- Britain's top military commander, Richard Dannatt, said Friday that in some parts of Iraq the "mere presence" of British troops "does exacerbate" violence and that "time is against us" in Iraq. But he also said Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder with Americans and their timing and our timing are one and the same."
Dannatt gave a series of radio and TV interviews one day after he was quoted by the Daily Mail newspaper as saying British troops should "get ourselves out sometimes soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems."
In that interview, the army general said "we weren't invited" into Iraq but rather "kicked the door in" and that "whatever consent we may have had in the first place" from the Iraqi people "has largely turned to intolerance."
His initial comments, lauded by anti-war activists, were seen as extraordinarily candid for the head of the army and contradictory to Prime Minister Tony Blair's Iraq policy. Blair recently said that if Britain were to withdraw, the nation "will be committing a craven act of surrender that will put our future security in the deepest peril."
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"He is just being honest, which is a breath of fresh air," said Amyas Godrey, a former British Army officer at the Royal United Services Institute. "Iraq wasn't the greatest idea." He said Dannatt was seen as non-political soldier with his army's best interest at heart.
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