From the Guardian

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1924794,00.html|Iraq war cost years of progress in Afghanistan] - UK brigadier

Commander echoes criticism of Blair's foreign policy by head of army

Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday October 18, 2006
The Guardian
The invasion of Iraq prevented British forces from helping to secure Afghanistan much sooner and has left a dangerous vacuum in the country for four years, the commander who has led the attack against the Taliban made clear yesterday. Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of 3 Para battlegroup just returned from southern Afghanistan, said the delay in deploying Nato troops after the overthrow of the Taliban in 2002 meant British soldiers faced a much tougher task now.
Asked whether the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath had led to Britain and the US taking their eye off the ball, Brig Butler said the question was "probably best answered by politicians".
But echoing criticisms last week by General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the army, he added that Iraq had affected operations in Afghanistan. "We could have carried on in 2002 in the same way we have gone about business now.
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Gus: It's a bit misleading of an argument... Sure the dynamics may have been different but the results now or in two year's time might have been the same... The fact is like in Iraq, war was declared as the first option rather than use diplomacy (and I do not mean the kind of baby-food stuff La Rice is dishing out patronisingly) to solve massive oncoming problems peacefully rather than believe in "our " own sh&*%T... and superiority, so to speak. The result from war is massive disturbances, more conflicts and revenge... apart from looting and profiteering... The US, Australia and the UK have to be prepared to have to "contain" insurgency and terrorism in Iraq for another 30 years before either giving up or the oil runs out, leaving that country totally spent with one goat and one palm tree standing... Our Mr Fawlty Basil Clowner cannot see for example that he created a situation — with others con artists, Bush, Blair, Howard, etc... he was the main WMD in Iraq scarecrow in Australia by repeating at least 8500 times that "Saddam has Weapons of Mass destruction" publicly... — that the more he's trying to solve his tomfoolery with the reality by fiddling around, the more the situation is going to deteriorate... His foray on lateline (ABC) last night (17/10/06) was an appalling fudge of facts and feelings...

From the Guardian

We have turned Iraq into the most hellish place on Earth

Armies claiming to bring prosperity have instead brought a misery worse than under the cruellest of modern dictators

Simon Jenkins
Wednesday October 25, 2006
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1930687,00.html|The Guardian]

British ministers landing in Aden in the 1960s were told always to make a reassuring speech. In view of the Arab insurrection, they should give a ringing pledge, "Britain will never, ever leave Aden". Britain promptly left Aden, in 1967 and a year earlier than planned. The last governor walked backwards up the steps to his plane, his pistol drawn against any last-minute assassin. Locals who had trusted him and worked with the British were massacred in their hundreds by the fedayeen.
Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Salih, was welcomed to London by the BBC on Monday with two documentaries recalling past British humiliations at the hands of Arabs, in Aden and Suez. It was not a message Salih wanted to hear. His government is retreating from its position in May, when it said that foreign forces should withdraw from 16 out of 18 provinces, including the south, by the end of this year. Tony Blair rejected this invitation to go and said he would "stay until the job is done". Salih would do well to remember what western governments do, not what they say.

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