The head of the British army has insisted today that he was not breaking ranks with the government over his call for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq "sometime soon".
General Sir Richard Dannatt denied he was at odds with Prime Minister Tony Blair and argued that his comments about Iraq were neither "substantially new or substantially newsworthy".
Gen Dannatt, who became chief of the General Staff in August, was speaking after warning in an interview that Britain should get "out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".
He told the BBC Radio 4 Todayprogramme: "It was never my intention to have this hoo-ha which people have thoroughly enjoyed overnight in trying to suggest there is a chasm between myself as head of the army and the prime minister or between myself as head of the army and the secretary of state for defence.
"My intention is particularly to speak up for what is right for the army. That is my job. That is my constituency," he said.
Mr Blair has consistently maintained that troops would only be withdrawn from Iraq when the new democratically elected administration was able to cope on its own.
The most controversial of Gen Dannatt's comments in the Daily Mailinterview was the assertion that Britain's presence in the country was "exacerbating" security problems.
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.
"The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in. Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance," he said.
"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," said Gen Dannatt.
"The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro-West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East."
US-led forces and the Iraqi government face a challenge both from insurgency and sectarian fighting between Shias and Sunni Muslims that has brought the country close to civil war.
Mr Blair's office issued a statement that said: "It's important that people remember that we are in Iraq at the express wish of the democratically elected Iraqi government, to support them under the mandate of a UN resolution."
Iraq government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said US and British troops were still needed but are not wanted indefinitely.
But we believe the British and Americans are playing a positive role in Iraq and that their presence is necessary to control the security issue."
But on the streets of Basra, where most of Britain's 7,200 troops are based, locals told Reuters they agreed it was time for them to go.
"In the last three years, people started to look at these troops in a different way. They simply hate these troops," said school teacher Fatima Ahmed (35).
But Gen Dannatt's remarks were seized upon by anti-war campaigners. Reg Keys, whose son died in Iraq, said: "Here you have an officer, at last, who is prepared to speak how it is, and not be a mouthpiece for the delusions of a prime minister."
Britain has launched a major new operation in Afghanistan this year, and commanders have acknowledged that they had hoped for speedier reduction in numbers in Iraq. Generals have said they now hope to cut their force in Iraq in half by the middle of next year.
Agencies