Army Chief's Comments

In an interview with the Daily Mail the head of the British Army said many things. The first thing he said is that "I donÂ’t say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them." He went on to say that British troops should leave Iraq "sometime soon".

Now, there is no doubt that radical Islamists are using the situation in Iraq to brainwash others. Only a fool would deny that Iraq has any effect on terrorism both inside Iraq and outside. And, of course, it would be best for us to leave ASAP.

However, only fools think that leaving would actually help the Iraqi people. At the moment almost all the deaths are either coalition troops killing terrorists or terrorists killing innocentcivilianss. Removing coalition troops would leave noone to counter the terrorist threat and the civil war that people like to mention would certainly erupt. Leaving is good for the British but bad for the Iraqis. That seems obvious to me.

One other thing he said that, unsurprisingly, is not getting any attention is his comments about the state of our country. He said:

Our society has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind...
There is an element of the moral compass spinning. I think it is up to society to realise that is the situation we are in...
We need to face up to the Islamist threat, to those who act in the name of Islam and in a perverted way try to impose Islam by force on societies that do not wish it. It is said that we live in a post Christian society. I think that is a great shame. The broader Judaic-Christian tradition has underpinned British society.

I think this message is more damning than what he said about Iraq. His comments on Iraq are common sense, the only shock there is the messenger. These comments, on the other hand, are ones that need to be shouted from the rooftops, a message that isn't getting through; Islamic radicals are winning because we are undermining our own culture and allowing them in.