“U.S., UK Must Admit Defeat And Leave Iraq”
[www.tehrantimes.com]
Iraqi resistance fighters have a right to oppose the occupation and to force foreign troops out of their country, a former British army commander said.
General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded UN forces in Bosnia, urged the U.S. and its allies to "admit defeat" and stop fighting "a hopeless war" in Iraq, according to the BBC's Newsnight program.
More than 140 British troops and about 3,300 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. When asked whether he believes Iraqi fighters have a "right" to drive U.S. occupation forces out of Iraq, Sir Michael said: "Yes, I do."
"As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, he said 'if I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms," he told Newsnight.
Iraqi fighters feel the same way, he added.
Sir Michael also said it was time for foreign troops to leave Iraq and go back home. "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved." Asked if that meant admitting defeat, the general replied: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened.”
"The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq," he added.
Sir Michael has written a book comparing the resistance fighters' tactics with those of George Washington's irregular forces in the American War of Independence.
Last year, he called for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be impeached for going to war on "false pretences".
A two-day conference of world and regional powers aimed at stabilizing Iraq ended on Friday.
Iraq’s neighbors, including Iran and Syria, had joined ministers from the G8 nations and the EU at the conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
More than $30bn in aid and debt relief was pledged by donors on the first day of the summit.
According to the Iraqi finance minister, Egypt agreed to write off about $800m owed to it by Iraq while Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland would cancel 80% of Iraq's debts.
The UK and European Union each pledged $200m in grants.
The participants also signed a five-year agreement offering financial aid but requiring Iraq to push towards political reform and reconciliation.
Already-strained troops are being put in great mental health problems by the military due to the repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, a Pentagon panel said Thursday, warning of an overburdened state of the military's health care system.
The 14-member task force issued an urgent warning, saying more than a third of U.S. troops and veterans already suffer from problems that include traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
It found that 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report psychological concerns.
Among members of the National Guard, the figures have reached 49 percent, with the numbers expected to grow because of repeated deployments.
The figures are likely to rise as the war in Iraq escalates, and that current staffing and budget levels won't be enough to meet the need, the group said in a preliminary report.
The task force also characterized current Pentagon policies as overly conservative and out-of-date. "The system of care for psychological health that has evolved in recent decades is not sufficient to meet the needs of today's forces and their beneficiaries, and will not be sufficient to meet the needs in the future." (Source: Aljazeera.com)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/6/2007&Cat=4&Num=3
[www.tehrantimes.com]
Iraqi resistance fighters have a right to oppose the occupation and to force foreign troops out of their country, a former British army commander said.
General Sir Michael Rose, who commanded UN forces in Bosnia, urged the U.S. and its allies to "admit defeat" and stop fighting "a hopeless war" in Iraq, according to the BBC's Newsnight program.
More than 140 British troops and about 3,300 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. When asked whether he believes Iraqi fighters have a "right" to drive U.S. occupation forces out of Iraq, Sir Michael said: "Yes, I do."
"As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, he said 'if I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms," he told Newsnight.
Iraqi fighters feel the same way, he added.
Sir Michael also said it was time for foreign troops to leave Iraq and go back home. "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the frontline that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved." Asked if that meant admitting defeat, the general replied: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened.”
"The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq," he added.
Sir Michael has written a book comparing the resistance fighters' tactics with those of George Washington's irregular forces in the American War of Independence.
Last year, he called for British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be impeached for going to war on "false pretences".
A two-day conference of world and regional powers aimed at stabilizing Iraq ended on Friday.
Iraq’s neighbors, including Iran and Syria, had joined ministers from the G8 nations and the EU at the conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
More than $30bn in aid and debt relief was pledged by donors on the first day of the summit.
According to the Iraqi finance minister, Egypt agreed to write off about $800m owed to it by Iraq while Slovenia, Bulgaria and Poland would cancel 80% of Iraq's debts.
The UK and European Union each pledged $200m in grants.
The participants also signed a five-year agreement offering financial aid but requiring Iraq to push towards political reform and reconciliation.
Already-strained troops are being put in great mental health problems by the military due to the repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, a Pentagon panel said Thursday, warning of an overburdened state of the military's health care system.
The 14-member task force issued an urgent warning, saying more than a third of U.S. troops and veterans already suffer from problems that include traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
It found that 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of Marines report psychological concerns.
Among members of the National Guard, the figures have reached 49 percent, with the numbers expected to grow because of repeated deployments.
The figures are likely to rise as the war in Iraq escalates, and that current staffing and budget levels won't be enough to meet the need, the group said in a preliminary report.
The task force also characterized current Pentagon policies as overly conservative and out-of-date. "The system of care for psychological health that has evolved in recent decades is not sufficient to meet the needs of today's forces and their beneficiaries, and will not be sufficient to meet the needs in the future." (Source: Aljazeera.com)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=5/6/2007&Cat=4&Num=3
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