.Army 'succeeded' in southern Iraq
The head of the armed forces has told the BBC that the British military has "succeeded" in its mission objectives in southern Iraq.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said the army had "very nearly" reached its target of allowing Iraqis to run that part of the country.
Sir Jock also said while the operation in Afghanistan was "entirely winnable" it was "entirely loseable" too.
But he said he thought the armed forces could cope with being stretched.
He told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that opinions on southern Iraq depended "upon what your interpretation of the mission was in the first place".
He said: "I'm afraid people had, in many instances, unrealistic aspirations for Iraq, and for the south of Iraq.
"Our mission there was to get the place and the people to a state where the Iraqis could run that part of the country, if they chose to, and we're very nearly there.
"Our mission was not to make the place look like somewhere green and peaceful, because that was never going to be achievable in that timescale.
"And in any event only the Iraqis can fulfil that aspiration."
Radicalisation effect
Sir Jock also said that he expected the British army would hand over control of Basra to Iraqi forces "in the near future".
He said: "It hasn't been decided yet, it will come up for consideration within the next couple of months, I suspect, but I am fairly confident that we should be able to achieve that position in the second half of the year."
The chief of defence staff also admitted that the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan "had an effect" on radicalisation of people in Britain, but that it was not the root cause of the issue.
"I think it is likely that there is some effect, but they are not the cause. Radicalisation was there before those conflicts existed.
"Clearly one couldn't deny that there may well be some kind of relationship between the two."
BBC
I guess we won, and the war is now over.
No wonder the British fucked the entire world.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said the army had "very nearly" reached its target of allowing Iraqis to run that part of the country.
Sir Jock also said while the operation in Afghanistan was "entirely winnable" it was "entirely loseable" too.
But he said he thought the armed forces could cope with being stretched.
He told BBC Radio 4's The World at One that opinions on southern Iraq depended "upon what your interpretation of the mission was in the first place".
He said: "I'm afraid people had, in many instances, unrealistic aspirations for Iraq, and for the south of Iraq.
"Our mission there was to get the place and the people to a state where the Iraqis could run that part of the country, if they chose to, and we're very nearly there.
"Our mission was not to make the place look like somewhere green and peaceful, because that was never going to be achievable in that timescale.
"And in any event only the Iraqis can fulfil that aspiration."
Radicalisation effect
Sir Jock also said that he expected the British army would hand over control of Basra to Iraqi forces "in the near future".
He said: "It hasn't been decided yet, it will come up for consideration within the next couple of months, I suspect, but I am fairly confident that we should be able to achieve that position in the second half of the year."
The chief of defence staff also admitted that the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan "had an effect" on radicalisation of people in Britain, but that it was not the root cause of the issue.
"I think it is likely that there is some effect, but they are not the cause. Radicalisation was there before those conflicts existed.
"Clearly one couldn't deny that there may well be some kind of relationship between the two."
BBC
I guess we won, and the war is now over.
No wonder the British fucked the entire world.
posted by madtom at 6:55 PM
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