“Our opponents in the main are Iraqi nationalists, and are most concerned with their own needs – jobs, money, security, hope. And the majority, therefore, I would suggest are not bad people.”
General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army, speaking about the Iraqi resistance (via) during a recent speech at the Institute for International Studies (IISS) in London.
Channel Four news showed a film of him making the remarks:
(via lenin)
When the head of the British Army describes the “majority” of the Iraqi resistance as “Iraqi nationalists” and “not bad people”, thereby totally deflating the official government narrative about the ‘insurgency’ being primarily composed of crazy al-Qaeda/takfiri fanatics, it’s surely big news.
However, whilst a search for ‘general richard dannatt’ on Google News brings up plenty of articles discussing his speech, a search for ‘general richard dannatt “not bad people”‘ produces but a single Guardian article, which buries the quote in a passing mention three paragraphs from the end.
It seems inconceivable that the mainstream press would report a speech so heavily and yet almost unanimously fail to mention one of its most important details, but it appears that this is what has happened. A Google search for ‘general richard dannatt “not bad people”‘ confirms this.
Who needs censorship when you have a press that is perfectly willing to ignore statements from a top military official in order to preserve the official government line all by itself?
Cross-posted at The Heathlander
can be viewed in full here.
I wrote a detailed post about it a while ago.
lenin’s “Iraqi Resistance Dossier” is an excellent resource on this.
…are similar to those made by Major General Joseph Taluto, a senior U.S. military official, back in 2005:
What the British generals say about Iraqi resistance may be true. But that is not what the American generals want to hear. Petreaus has been careful to repeat, “Al Qaeda,” in the responses he made before Congress and the press recently.
This is the War on Terrorism, boy. Don’t get it confused with Iraqi nationalism or lack of electricity or bread. That’s why we are there. The Iraqi people are just sacrificing for freedom.
PS: Thanks for this diary and the view from Britain.
Cheers – yep, it certainly contradicts the official ‘war on terror’ narrative, but it accords fully with the facts reported by the Government Accountability Office every quarter. Not that facts have ever gotten in the way of some good propaganda.