By the time you read this, the head of Britain's army, Sir Richard Dannatt may be out of a job. He has committed the cardinal sin of speaking the truth, stating the obvious. In today's world of the far-right, that is nothing short of sedition.
What is Sir Richard's offence? Well, he's called for Britain to get out of Iraq - fast. Here's part of the account in The Guardian:
"General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, dropped a political bombshell last night by saying that Britain must withdraw from Iraq "soon" or risk serious consequences for Iraqi and British society.
"In a blistering attack on Tony Blair's foreign policy, Gen Dannatt said the continuing military presence in Iraq was jeopardising British security and interests around the world.
"'I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them,' he said in comments that met with admiration from anti-war campaigners and disbelief in some parts of Westminster.
"In an interview with the Daily Mail, Gen Dannatt, who became chief of the general staff in August, said we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".
"He added: "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear.
"'As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited ... by those in Iraq at the time. The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in.'
"'Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance.' He added that planning for the postwar phase was "poor" and the aim of imposing a liberal democracy in Iraq had been over-ambitious. He was more optimistic that 'we can get it right in Afghanistan.'"
Poor Tony. I'll bet George didn't waste any time getting on the phone to demand that this man be axed. Too late. It's in all the English papers and they're not going to let it go anytime soon. If Blair moves to dismiss Dannatt, he might be leaving No. 10 sooner than anyone expected.
According to The Times, Defence Minister Des something-or-other (Browne) has called Dannatt to account. Too late Des, too late Tony, the British people aren't in any mood for this nonsense any longer and you pillory Sir Richard at your peril.
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