The head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said on June 23rd 2009 that Britain had made mistakes in the military campaign in Iraq, adding that military equipment and personnel were redeployed to Afghanistan too hastily.

Sir Richard, the Chief of the General Staff, highlighted a "window of consent" that had opened up swift on the heels of the 2003 invasion, which allied forces had failed to exploit to the full.

Insufficient troop levels, he added, had remained in Iraq once Afghanistan had become the focus of attention.

Iraq War Review

Sir Richard's comments formed part of a speech delivered to defence and security forum, the Royal United Services Institute, which occurred in advance of the British Government's anticipated official Iraq War review.

Key among the experience gained from time spent in Iraq, said Sir Richard, was the requirement of achieving what he called a "decisive effect", early in the game.

"In Iraq this meant acting while we had a window of consent to address the security and basic needs of the Iraq people, reconstruction, development and developing the capacity of indigenous security forces", he explained.

"Our failure to deliver this through proper investment and a comprehensive approach and our early switch to an economy of force operation in favour of Afghanistan sowed the seeds for the dissatisfaction that followed and the rise of the militias supported so cynically by the Iranians in the south."

Troop Surges

Sir Richard added that not enough allied forces were present on the ground, hence the implementation of troop surges when needed. Further errors were made in sending newly trained Iraqi troops into battle before they were ready.

"We must acknowledge that it takes time, expertise and resources to develop impartial, loyal, well-trained, well-equipped and well-led local security forces", Dannatt stated.

"We must not repeat the mistakes of 2003 to 2004 when we recruited and deployed hastily security forces of very limited effectiveness and, as it turned out, of questionable loyalty."

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