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Iraq: Van Bommel delighted with British military chief’s support for withdrawal of foreign forces

13 October 2006

Iraq: Van Bommel delighted with British military chief’s support for withdrawal of foreign forces

The Netherlands must immediately renounce all military and political support for the occupation of Iraq, says SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel. Mr Van Bommel expressed his delight that the head of the British armed forces, General Sir Richard Dannatt, shares the SP's opinion that the current international presence in Iraq is part of the problem, rather than part of the solution.

General Dannatt expressed this view in an extremely outspoken interview with The Daily Mail. “I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war-fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning,” he said. The hope that Iraq could be made into a liberal, pro-Western democracy was “naive”. The military presence, he argued, attracted death squads and terrorists and was itself a problem rather than any kind of solution. He concluded that the Western presence was not welcomed by the Iraqi people and also generated resistance beyond Iraq. “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.”

Harry van BommelVan Bommel intends, during next week's parliamentary debate on the foreign affairs budget, to propose that Dutch forces be withdrawn from Iraq. “It's true that we have a limited number of soldiers in the country,” he said, “but we should nevertheless take what is an important political step.”

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