- Gen Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the Army, has admitted
that British troops in Iraq are "back at war". He is the first
authoritative figure to concede that war is still being waged in Iraq,
16 months after President George W Bush declared that combat operations
were over.
-
- In an interview with The Telegraph, the Chief of the
General Staff said that August had been a difficult month for soldiers
serving in southern Iraq.
-
- "Soldiers are now fighting a counter-insurgency
war," said Sir Mike. "August was a very busy month and British
soldiers were involved in war fighting."
-
- The general said that many of the terrorists were foreigners
who had entered Iraq through one of its many porous borders, and some were
known to be Syrians.
-
- "The insurgents are made up of both indigenous and
foreign fighters and there is evidence that some of these terrorists are
Syrians," he said. "Iraq's borders are long and very open but,
if more could be done to secure borders, the security situation in Iraq
would improve.
-
- "The suicide bombers are unlikely to be Iraqi. Suicide
is just not their way, so there is evidence that the insurgents are being
supported from outside Iraq," said the general.
-
- Although he admitted that the situation in Iraq was difficult,
Sir Mike denied that it was unresolvable, or that the British Army had
been unprepared to deal with internal security after regime change had
been achieved.
-
- "I don't think we were caught out by this counter-insurgency
war. From a British dimension, the planning for post-war Iraq had allowed
for a less-than-benign atmosphere, so I don't think it is fair to say that
we were caught out or unprepared," he said.
-
- Tony Blair last night sought to quash claims that he
had been warned a year before invading Iraq that the war could result in
chaos and require large numbers of troops for "many years".
-
- The Prime Minister spoke out after leaked documents were
published in The Telegraph detailing a series of concerns expressed by
Jack Straw and some of the most senior officials in 10 Downing Street and
Whitehall.
-
- The Conservatives said the leak showed that Mr Blair
had misled people in claiming that a clear plan existed for dealing with
the aftermath of war.
-
- It threatened to mar talks between Mr Blair and the interim
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in Downing Street this week.
-
- At Leeds Castle in Kent, after talks on the Northern
Ireland peace process, the Prime Minister insisted there had been a plan
for the aftermath of war and described Iraq as "the crucible"
of the fight against terror.
-
- "Having read in the papers that apparently I was
warned of the chaos that was going to ensue in Iraq, I actually got the
minute Jack sent me. It didn't do anything of the sort," Mr Blair
said.
-
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