Chief of Staff of the British Army Says It’s Time to Get Outta Iraq

Kevin Drum links to, and comments on, a report in the UK's Daily Mail which quotes General Sir Richard Dannatt, who states that we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems". "We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear. "As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited into a country, but we weren't invited, certainly by those in Iraq at the time. Let's face it, the military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in. "That is a fact. I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing around the world are caused by our presence in Iraq, but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them." (…) "There is a clear distinction between our status and position in Iraq and in Afghanistan, which is why I have much more optimism that we can get it right in Afghanistan." (We operate in Afghanistan at the invitation of President Hamid Karzai's government.)