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Greg Mulholland-Working Hard For Leeds North WestGOVT MUST PLAN FOR WITHDRAWAL OF BRITISH TROOPS FROM IRAQ: MULHOLLAND
February 20, 2006 12:00 AM
Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West, has today responded to Defence Secretary John Reid's comments that the public should be more understanding of the British troops in Iraq, in light of new footage showing apparent abuse of Iraqi civilians by UK troops.
Commenting, Greg said:
"John Reid and the Government must face up to the fact that the mission in Iraq is a failure. The sooner they admit this and get the British troops out of the line of fire, the better.
"This video shows the actions of only a very small minority of troops, but this behaviour has damaged the reputation of the normally disciplined approach of the British forces. In light of recent events that have brought huge strains on relations between western states and muslim nations, and now that the Iraqi authorities in British controlled areas have said they will not work with the British, the situation is becoming increasingly untenable. The game is up and it is now time to get out.
"It's essential that a new and appropriate UN/Pan-Arab force is sent to Iraq to do a peace-keeping role. With our role in the Iraq conflict, we simply cannot walk away - our contribution has to be financial, not military in the reconstruction process.
"The war in Iraq was a war that should never have happened. It has been disastrous for the area and it is a war that can never be won. It's time that the British Government faced up to that and started to plan for the withdrawal of our troops."