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Iraq war was no strategic benefit, says UK military chief

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Sept 17, IRNA -- Britain’s military chief has castigated the Iraq war, saying that former prime minister Tony Blair’s government did not appreciate what it was taking on when it planned the 2003 invasion.

Giving evidence to the parliamentary Public Administration Committee on Thursday, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said that politicians did not understand the consequence of the invasion, that there was a “failure of strategic thinking.”

'We had people sitting in locations in Basra city unable to execute an aggressive military function but being shelled, resupply convoys on a daily basis being attacked, people dying for no strategic benefit, and no prospect of strategic benefit down this track,' Stirrup said.

'The proposition was that freeing Iraq from Saddam Hussein and establishing proper democratic government would be a beacon for other countries throughout the region … It didn't work. It was wrong. But that was the strategy,' he said, according to extracts of his evidence.

Stirrup, who steps down next month, complained that British troops were “very stretched” after becoming head of the armed forces in 2006.

Last year, he expressed concern about falling levels of public support for the war in Afghanistan which he believed risked undermining the British effort.