[NYTr] Brits Gave Inflated Expectations on Iraq; War on Terror a Disaster

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP via Yahoo - Oct 8, 2007
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071008/twl-britain-iraq-military-575b600.html


BRITAIN GAVE 'INFLATED EXPECTATIONS' OF POTENTIAL IN IRAQ: top adviser

LONDON (AFP)  - - The British government gave "false and inflated 
expectations"  of what could be achieved by its military presence in
Iraq, its top military adviser said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to The Times, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of 
the defence staff, acknowledged that only Iraqis could make Basra, in
the south of the country, into a stable, secure and prosperous city.
"In my view, and contrary to what many people may think, the British
military in the south of Iraq, against some quite daunting odds, has
been successful, and the nonsense about the British having failed in
Basra is completely misjudged," he told the daily. "Of course, it does
depend upon recognising what the mission was in the first place, and
I'm afraid we did allow some false and inflated expectations to arise.
"But the mission for the military was to get the place and the people
to the state where the Iraqis could run that bit of their country if
they chose to."

Stirrup added:  "I think we didn't do a good job, frankly, of setting
out the strategic prospect ...  and we have not done as well as we
should have done at thinking strategically. "I'm talking here not just
about the military."

His comments come as Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to provide an 
update to the lower House of Commons on Monday afternoon on British
troop levels in Iraq, having announced last week that their numbers
will drop to 4,500 by the end of the year from current levels of about
5,250.

Most of those troops are based around Basra, where Stirrup said he
didn't "for a moment pretend that there will be a smooth, uninterrupted
progress towards some sort of urban idyll."

"I think some people expected that, with the British presence on the 
ground, we could put Basra society, Basra infrastructure, Basra
politics and Basra life back on its feet and make it look like some
sort of stable, secure, prosperous urban centre. "That is the right
aspiration to have, but we could never do that, only the Iraqis could
do it."

A defence ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the Stirrup's 
comments when contacted by AFP.

                       ***

AFP via Yahoo - Oct 8, 2007
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20071008/twl-us-attacks-britain-iraq-afghanistan-7e07afd.html

'War on terror' has been a 'disaster': British think tank

AFP

LONDON (AFP) - - The US-led "war on terror" has been a "disaster" and 
Washington and its allies must change their policy in Iraq and
Afghanistan to defeat Al-Qaeda, an independent global security think
tank said Monday.

The Oxford Research Group (ORG) said in a report that Western strategy 
since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States had failed to 
extinguish the threat from Islamist extremism and even fuelled it.

 	"Every aspect of the war on terror has been counterproductive
in Iraq and Afghanistan, from the loss of civilian life through mass 
detentions without trial.  In short, it has been a disaster," report 
author Paul Rogers said.

 	"Western countries simply have to face up to the dangerous 
mistakes of the past six years and recognise the need for new policies."
Rogers, professor of peace studies at the University of Bradford,
northern England, also warned that any military action against Iran
over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme would further
aggravate the situation.

 	"Going to war with Iran will make matters far worse, playing 
directly into the hands of extreme elements and adding greatly to the 
violence across the region," he added.

 	"Whatever the problems with Iran, war should be avoided at all 
costs -- the mistakes already made will be completely overshadowed by
the consequences of a war with Iran."

Chief among the report's criticisms is that the US-led invasion of Iraq
in March 2003 was a "grievous mistake", which had created a combat
training zone for extremist elements linked to or inspired by Osama bin
Laden's Al-Qaeda.

The report, "Towards Sustainable Security: Alternative Approaches to
the War on Terror", said the situation was comparable to the rise of
the mujahedin that rose against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan
in the 1980s.

On Afghanistan, the ORG said ousting the hardline Taliban from power in 
late 2001 had been of "direct value" to Al-Qaeda and militia
sympathetic to its violent Islamist ideology were now re-invigorated,
it added.

In addition, mass detentions of suspected extremists, torture, prisoner 
abuse and the "extraordinary rendition"  of suspects for questioning in 
third countries outside US legal jurisdiction was a useful propaganda 
weapon.

Rogers said the United States and its allies needed to better
understand the roots of the Al-Qaeda movement and its support base and
systematically undercut it through policy changes at every level.

But he said even if that were successful, it would still take at least
a decade to make up for mistakes so far.

Among the ORG's recommendations are the withdrawal of foreign forces
from Iraq and an increase in diplomacy, including with Syria and Iran;
greater civil aid to Afghanistan, a scaling down of military action and
talks with militia.

"Extraordinary rendition", detention without trial and prisoner abuse 
should stop immediately;  countries should commit to advancing the
stalled Middle East peace process, because of its central role in
anti-Western sentiment, it said.