British General calls for Blair's impeachment.

international | crime and justice | other press

Tuesday January 10, 2006 12:43

by iosaf - "wheel out the soldier boys"

General Sir Michael Rose (1940–) is a British soldier born in what was then British India. Rose was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and the Sorbonne. He joined the Coldstream Guards later serving with the Parachute Regiment. He was Commander of 22 SAS in 1980 and took control of the operation to free the hostages during the Iranian Embassy Siege. After returning to the regular army, his best-known appointment was as Commander UNPROFOR Bosnia 1994-95 during the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars.

On January 9, 2006, Rose called for Tony Blair to be impeached over the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, saying on BBC Radio 4's Today programme "To go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from."

He then followed up the BBC radio 4 interview with an opinion piece in The Guardian:-
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You may read all of Rose's article here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682807,00.html
You may read reaction to the call for impeachment from British media here.-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/10/nirq10.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/01/10/ixportal.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682958,00.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article337612.ece
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=38872006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4594216.stm

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The article makes interesting reading, & I have to take this opportunity to remind all,
that normally in mature democratic societies we do not expect to hear or read high ranking military officer's opinions on politics.
Indeed, this last week has seen a general placed under house arrest in Spain (he is in his fourth day) for breaching that most important rule. But it did make it clear to me at least (& perhaps the Spanish defence minister José Bono) that when Generals speak, they do _seem to get attention_.
So it is important to remember that General Rose is _no longer_ a serving officer. He is not covered by the veil of civilisation which prohibits a military man speaking his mind.

I would also like to point out the tone of the article, this member of the British Armed forces has served in many of the units most reviled by Irish people, but also has headed the most difficult military operations undertaken by the nascent military co-operation missions of Europe. Missions in which members of Ireland' security forces (gardaí) have played their part in the Balkans.

Yes indeed, Lets hear more from the generals to "safeguard" our democracy.--