Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
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Prince Andrew rebukes America over Iraq
Quote:
Prince Andrew rebukes America over Iraq
By Toby Helm, Public Policy Editor
Last Updated: 1:23pm GMT 05/02/2008
The Duke of York has launched an unprecedented attack on President George W Bush's White House administration for failing to listen more to the advice of the British Government over the Iraq war.
The Duke's criticism of Washington represents an extraordinary departure from normal protocol, which determines that members of the Royal Family refrain from public comment on sensitive international and political issues.
The Duke of York expressed his regret that the US failed to heed British advice over post-war Iraq
In a rare newspaper interview, with the International Herald Tribune, the Duke expresses his strong personal regret that the US failed to heed British advice over the post-war strategy for Iraq, with disastrous consequences.
On the eve of a 10-day mission to America in his role as British trade envoy, he told the newspaper that there were "occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the US might listen and learn from our experiences".
He said that because of Britain's imperial history, it had experience of many of the foreign policy challenges now facing the US.
"If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign - we have been through them all," Prince Andrew said.
"We've won some, lost some, drawn some. The fact is there is quite a lot of experience over here which is valid and should be listened to."
The aftermath of the Iraq conflict fuelled a "healthy scepticism" towards what is said in Washington, and a feeling of "why didn't anyone listen to what was said and the advice that was given".
British opinion had been sought, he said, before adding: "It's not as if we had been forcing that across the Atlantic."
The Duke, who saw active service when as a Navy officer he flew helicopters during the Falklands conflict 26 years ago, still takes a keen interest in military affairs.
It is understood his criticisms of the US refer specifically to the British advice - rejected during the conflict itself - about how to conduct the post-war strategy for rebuilding Iraqi institutions and placing the country on the road to democracy.
Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary at the time of the conflict, disclosed in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in December 2006 that he and Tony Blair "lost the argument" with the Americans before fighting ceased.
Mr Hoon said he and Mr Blair urged Washington not to dismantle the Iraqi army or purge all members of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party from senior positions. But they were overruled.
In May 2003, Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, issued two orders: one outlawing the Ba'ath Party and the other dissolving Iraq's 500,000-strong military and intelligence services. Those decisions are now seen by many as the causes of a vacuum that allowed Iraqi insurgents to launch their terrorist offensive against the occupying forces.
Mr Hoon said he was not in "any doubt" that things should have been done differently.
Recalling his days in the Navy, the Duke said: "I was the glamorous one dressed in a uniform who flew his helicopter and I was there to defend, to be an instrument of Her Majesty's Government whenever and wherever they so chose. And I thought it was frightfully glamorous."
Prince Andrew, who suffered a lengthy spell in the public spotlight over claims of “playboy” activities, said the Falklands War was a formative experience and one that, he says, changed him “out of all recognition” and left “a different view of life”.
Since then he has been to Argentina, visited the country's navy and found himself at a memorial to the Belgrano, an Argentinian warship sunk by the British, which resulted in the loss of 368 lives.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said last night that the duke’s views had been accurately reported by the International Herald Tribune.
He went on: “As the duke mentioned in the interview, he believes that the US is our number one ally and friend, and I don’t believe the comments are particularly critical or controversial.”
American government officials refused to comment on the propriety of the Duke’s remarks. An insider said it was not an area they would “want to touch with a bargepole”.
A State Department official said: “Obviously we have great respect for the advice and experience of our UK allies. They were consulted about the full range of our actions both before and after the invasion.
“There’s always room for improvement in any situation like this but we’ll continue to have a robust dialogue with London on all these issues.”
However, independent strategists in Washington reproached the duke. Nile Gardiner, the director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, described them as a “huge gaffe at a time of tense relations between London and Washington over Iraq”.
He added: “Prince Andrew’s knowledge of Iraq is close to zero and his comments are deeply unhelpful to the war effort.
“These are not harmless, throwaway remarks but serious comments by a senior member of the Royal Family who should know better. They will cause offence in the US at a time when American and British servicemen are laying down their lives in Iraq.”
John Pike, the director of Global Security, a Washington-based military think-tank, said the duke’s remarks were primarily a matter for the British constitution.
“It seems to me that he’s got a bit off of his remit to publicly express opinions on ongoing military operations of an ally. I don’t think the Bush administration will find it very helpful,” he said. Americans would not like being lectured “by a monarchy whose predecessors we kicked out of our country and which demonstrated such an art of colonial governance that we’ve been begging for their return for a quarter of a millennium”.
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