Rumsfeld blamed for Iraq 'failure'

The head of the British Army during the invasion of Iraq has labelled post-war US policy "intellectually bankrupt", according to reports.

The former chief of the general staff, General Sir Mike Jackson, criticised the then US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, describing his claim that US forces "don't do nation-building" as "nonsensical".

His comments to the Daily Telegraph, ahead of the serialisation of his autobiography in the newspaper, will be seen as adding to perceived tensions between Britain and the US over Iraq.

Sir Mike lays the blame for what many see as the post-war failure in the country firmly at the door of Mr Rumsfeld, saying he was "one of the most responsible for the current situation in Iraq".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6889762,00.html

Army chief attacks US over Iraq
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/01/wirq101.xml

Rummy was the best SecDef this country ever had. Just ask "dead-eye Dick" Cheney. :puke:

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and they all belong on trial in the Hague for war crimes.

who claims to be a Christian yet who engages in optional war. "Sir Mike's" declaration that he believed the war legal severely strains his credibility, in my view. Such a man might well want to deflect blame: however bankrupt the US was, the UK was even more so when it tamely followed in a path it apparently knew was flawed.

A second key British general has criticised US post-war policy in Iraq.

Maj Gen Tim Cross, who was the most senior UK officer involved in post-war planning, told the Sunday Mirror US policy was "fatally flawed".

Maj Gen Cross, also retired, said he had raised serious concerns about potential post-war problems in Iraq with the then US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

But he said Mr Rumsfeld "dismissed" or "ignored" the warnings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6974611.stm