British army chief attacks US as 'intellectually bankrupt' over Iraq

"The former head of the British Army has attacked US postwar policy, calling it 'intellectually bankrupt'.

"General Sir Mike Jackson, who headed the army during the war in Iraq, described as 'nonsensical' the claim by the former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that US forces 'don't do nation-building'. He has also hit back at suggestions that British forces had failed in Basra.

"Mr Rumsfeld was 'one of the most responsible for the current situation in Iraq,' Gen Jackson says in his autobiography, Soldier. He describes Washington's approach to fighting global terrorism as 'inadequate' for relying on military power over diplomacy and nation-building.

"Last week General Jack Keane, a US commander just returned from Iraq, said the security situation in southern Iraq was 'deteriorating' and there was 'general disengagement' by the British military in Basra. But Gen Jackson told the Daily Telegraph, which is serialising his book: 'I don't think that's a fair assessment' ..."
Guardian Unlimited

Categories: iraq, rumsfeld, uk, usa, war+on+terror, military, army