British army chief: West can't defeat al-Qaeda

Gen Sir David Richards tells Telegraph defeating Islamist militancy 'unnecessary and would never be achieved,' but says it could be 'contained' to allow Britons to lead secure lives

Ynet|Published: 11.14.10 , 09:43

The new head of Britain's armed forces has warned that the West cannot defeat al-Qaeda and militant Islam, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Gen Sir David Richards told the British newspaper that defeating Islamist militancy was "unnecessary and would never be achieved."

However, he argued that it could be "contained" to allow Britons to lead secure lives.

Gen Richards, 58, said the West's war against what he described as a "pernicious ideology" had parallels with the fight against Nazi Germany in the Second World War and admitted that the Afghan people were beginning to "tire" of NATO's inability to deliver on its promises.

PM Cameron with British troops in Afghanistan (Archive photo: Reuters)

He added, however, that the sacrifice being made by the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan, where 343 soldiers have been killed since 2001, "has been worth it."

"In conventional war, defeat and victory is very clear cut and is symbolized by troops marching into another nation's capital. First of all you have to ask: do we need to defeat it (Islamist militancy) in the sense of a clear cut victory? I would argue that it is unnecessary and would never be achieved," he told the Telegraph.

"But can we contain it to the point that our lives and our children's lives are led securely? I think we can."

He also said the real weapon in the war against al-Qaeda was the use of "upstream prevention" as well as "education and democracy". The problems that gave rise to militant Islamism were unlikely to be solved soon, he added.