Snub for Army chief’s call to fight IS terror

BRITAIN will not send troops to fight on the ground in Syria and Iraq, the Government said yesterday after a former Army chief urged ministers not to rule it out.

Lord Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff, said aiding Iraqi soldiers and moderate Syrian opposition forces through air strikes and training had failed against “lethal and uncompromising” Islamic State fanatics.

Debate should start on doing more, including potentially sending as many as 5,000 troops for an international coalition, he argued.

Lord Dannatt said he did not want to send troops but it might become necessary.

But Business Secretary Sajid Javid ruled out any intervention.

He told BBC1’ s Andrew Marr show: “Clearly the news we’ve had this week is very difficult and we need to see what more can be done in terms of providing the help we already are, both in terms of training or intelligence or equipment.

Unthinkable

“There is a need for troops on the ground, but not British troops. This has to be won by the people most affected. It’s the Iraqis, the Syrians. We’ve got to provide them help with our allies.”

Conservative former Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the US would have to lead any ground operation and that seemed “out of the question” under President Barack Obama who entered office promising to bring American troops home.

Dr Fox said: “I don’t think he’d be willing in the last year or so of his presidency to have that as his legacy.”

Lord Dannatt said: “We have to have a much wider debate about what should be done.

“There’s a range of things and at the extreme end of that range, the unthinkable end, is that under American leadership there should be a coalition intervention force to which Britain should contribute.

“The important thing is we don’t just sit back and hope things will get better. They’re not going to get better without positive intervention. Time is not on our side.”

He admitted there was no appetite for such action: “But flip the coin and ask yourself what if we don’t do much more than we are currently doing. It’s not working. IS are on the ascendant. I don’t want to send 5,000 British troops… but this threat from IS isn’t going to go away.”

He wanted more instructors and Britain to join coalition airstrikes against IS in Syria, not just Iraq. He said: “If we’re not robust about it and put concerted action in place we’re going to sit on our sofas at home, watch our televisions, shake our heads and say ‘ gosh, we should have done something about that a long time ago’.”

‘ We must not just sit back and hope things get

better’

LORD DANNATT Former Chief of the General Staff

EFFORTS to eradicate Islamic State ( IS) have not been successful. There have been defeats infl icted on them but the terrorist group continues to control a vast swathe of territory.

After a general election campaign that skirted around the issues of foreign policy and defence it is time to have a serious debate about what we can feasibly do to stop IS. However, Lord Dannatt’s call for British troops to be sent to the region is wrong.

We need to heed the lessons of recent history. British forces helped to depose Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. Both countries were left lawless and divided, a perfect breeding ground for extremist groups.

In Afghanistan the confl ict that raged for more than a decade is testament to the futility of using traditional military forces to fi ght terrorists adept at guerilla warfare.

Sending British troops to another hellish war in the Middle East following the advice of a hawkish retired general would be a dangerous mistake.