Army chief defends Iraq comments

The head of the British army has defended his comments that UK troops "exacerbate" security problems in Iraq and should withdraw "sometime soon".

General Sir Richard Dannatt said he backed "what is right for the Army" and denied a "chasm" with the government.

Downing Street said the general had Tony Blair's full support, and the Iraqi government wanted troops there.

A spokesman for the Iraqi president said the departure of multi-national troops now "would be a disaster".

'See this through'

In a Daily Mail interview, Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, said UK troops should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems".

He also said: "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."

And he said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".

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