The head of the British military says foreign occupation is worsening the situation in Iraq and should come to an end. In an interview with the British newspaper the Daily Mail, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said: “I don’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 added: “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 in a country, but we weren’t invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time.” Dannat’s statement made front-page headlines around Britain. Many reports suggested his comments signify a major split between the military and Prime Minister Tony Blair. But Dannat later denied this was the case.

General Sir Richard Dannatt: “That comment just needs to be put in context. There are certain places where we are that we are attacked because we are there. There are other places in Basra and an operation going on at the present moment called Operation Salamanca where we are deliberately going to districts to make things better for people. We are doing reconstruction tasks and development tasks and they appreciate that. But in other places because we are there we constitute a target and we are attacked and it is in that sense that our presence exacerbates the problem.”