GENERAL SIR RICHARD DANNATT

The straight-talking head of the British Army lifted the lid on unravelling conflict in Iraq by saying UK forces should withdraw soon.

Serving soldiers also backed Sir Richard's assessment, with many heralding the army boss for fighting their corner.

The father-of-four, who became Chief of the General Staff in August, told the Daily Mail in October 2006: "We (the British Army) should get ourselves out (of Iraq) sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems

"Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance. 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."

On the subject of setting up Iraq as a beacon of democracy for the rest of the Middle East, Sir Richard simply expressed what many people were thinking. He said: "I don't think we are going to do that. I think we should aim for a lower ambition."

The revelations were followed by a furious day's PR fire-fighting by Downing Street, as the Prime Minister tried to reconcile his own views with those of Sir Richard.

In the end Number 10 said there was not a "fag paper" between Blair and Sir Richard on the Iraq withdrawal schedule - but clearly, the government had been given a stark warning from the front line.

It was not all praise for Sir Richard. His comments led former Home Secretary David Blunkett - along with other unnamed ministers - to call for his head for trying to interfere with government policy.

Sir Richard is a veteran commander with service experience in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, in a career of more than 30 years. A graduate from the University of Durham, he joined the Green Howards in 1971 after passing out from Sandhurst.

He served with the 1st Battalion in Northern Ireland - where he received the Military Cross - Cyprus and Germany. He then commanded the battalion from 1989 to 1991. From 1994 to 1996 he was the commander of the 4th Armoured Brigade in Germany and Bosnia. In 1999, he took command of the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division and served during peacekeeping missions in Kosovo.

Before taking command of Nato's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) he was the assistant chief of the general staff in the Ministry of Defence from 2001 to 2002. In March 2005, he took over as Commander-in-Chief Land Command.

He lives in Norfolk and married his wife Philippa in 1977. The couple have three sons and a daughter. One of Sir Richard's sons serves in the Grenadier Guards.

A devout Christian, Sir Richard is the vice-president of the Officers' Christian Union and president of the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association.

CITATIONS

"I nominate Sir Richard Dannatt because he is a man of honour and integrity. This man commands not only the British Army, but also the respect of all our Armed Forces. For too long the troops have merely got on with it; having served all over the world I am only too aware we have been silent for too long. Our equipment shortages and disparity in pay when compared to other forces is an utter disgrace, Dannatt has gone further than any other senior officer in saying so. He has my unqualified respect." John Glen, Lincolnshire

"I nominate General Sir Richard Dannatt - although he was later intimidated by the Blair government to tone down his statements had had the courage (unlike his predecessor) to point out the folly and waste of the current administration's policies. The British were once proud that their soldiers didn't get involved in politics - in those days you didn't need to as most politicians knew what it was like to fight in a war and put their own lives on the line. Now that this is no longer the case we can't afford for out military leaders to stay out of the political arena." Ted Newcomen

RELATED LINKS

Gary Gibbon's report on Sir Richard's comments
Q&A on Sir Richard