Ancram: It's time to bring troops home
Ancram: It's time to bring troops home
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Friday, 21, Apr 2006 11:14
Former shadow foreign secretary and senior Conservative figure Michael Ancram has declared that the time has come for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.
Mr Ancram is going against the party line as both Tory leader David Cameron and shadow defence secretary Liam Fox have made it clear they believe British forces should stay until the job is done.
And it also marks a change in opinion for a man who was originally in support of military involvement in 2003.
But speaking on the Today programme this morning, Mr Ancram insisted that Iraq was now in a state of civil war and the British government should bring its troops home.
"I think we've done all we can, we've done very well in our area in the south, but I believe we now are seeing a situation of civil war and I think it's always been the case that it wasn't for us to remain to hold the ring in a civil war," he said.
"We did a very good job there when we went in but two very big mistakes were made which I criticised at the time; one was the disbanding of the security forces in Iraq which.I think opened the door for the insurgents.
"The second was abandonment of the United States' post-war reconstruction plan, which they've never explained but which really caused a lot of resentment in the sense that a lot of the amenities that people were expecting to get in Iraq never transpired.
"We've been there for three years, that's a very long time to stay in a country like that. I believe now in the current circumstances - with the elements of civil war very, very evident now - this is the time for us with dignity and honour to get out."
Mr Ancram's comments echo an article he wrote in the Daily Mail this morning, in which he said that Britain has "no place in Iraq in a civil war" and "cannot and must not take sides between Sunnis and Shias".
He also compared the current war with that in Vietnam in the 1970s and warned that the same "shadow" that hangs over the US' involvement in that conflict is also in danger of being associated with Iraq.
"We can withdraw now on the basis that we have done what we can, or we can risk being driven out in more dangerous circumstances later," the 60-year-old added.