Britain's Army Chief Clarifies Remarks on Troop Withdrawal - washingtonpost.com

Britain's Army Chief Clarifies Remarks on Troop Withdrawal - washingtonpost.com: "LONDON, Oct. 13 -- Britain's top army commander, who ignited a controversy by saying that British troops should withdraw from Iraq 'sometime soon,' clarified Friday that he wants a pullout but not until 'the mission is substantially done.'

Gen. Richard Dannatt had been quoted in Friday editions of the Daily Mail as saying that British troops should leave Iraq 'sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems.'

'We weren't invited' into Iraq, he said, but rather 'kicked the door in,' and 'whatever consent we may have had in the first place' from the Iraqi people 'has largely turned to intolerance.'

Dannatt said he had 'much more optimism that we can get it right in Afghanistan.'

In television and radio interviews Friday, Dannatt said he was not 'backtracking' but expanding on his remarks and putting them in context. He said there was no 'rift' between him and Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose office reportedly was engaged in a flurry of phone calls with the Defense Ministry over the issue. Blair recently has said a British withdrawal from Iraq would be 'a craven act of surrender.'" Read complete post here.