General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, blasts Tony Blair (and, by association, George Bush) on Iraq in a just-released interview with the Daily Mail, saying the Brits should get out "sometime soon." More from the Daily Mail:

But it is Sir Richard's views of the situation in Iraq that will enrage Downing Street.

He says clearly we should "get ourselves out sometime soon because our presence exacerbates the security problems."

"We are in a Muslim country and Muslims' views of foreigners in their country are quite clear."

As a foreigner, you can be welcomed by being invited in a country, but we weren't invited certainly by those in Iraq at the time.

"The military campaign we fought in 2003 effectively kicked the door in. Whatever consent we may have had in the first place, may have turned to tolerance and has largely turned to intolerance."

"That is a fact. I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them." [snip]

"I think history will show that the planning for what happened after the initial successful war fighting phase was poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning," he said.

"The original intention was that we put in place a liberal democracy that was an exemplar for the region, was pro West and might have a beneficial effect on the balance within the Middle East."

"That was the hope, whether that was a sensible or naïve hope history will judge. I don't think we are going to do that. I think we should aim for a lower ambition."

This is not some leftwing Labour backbencher. It's the head of the army of our closest and most loyal ally in Iraq saying we should "get out sometime soon." How much this will affect the debate in the U.S. is hard to say, but it's certainly difficult to characterize Dannatt as a "cut and run" type.