HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Forces chief who upset US to
quit
Richard
Norton-Taylor
Wednesday July 24, 2002 The Guardian Admiral Sir Michael Boyce,
Britain's senior military officer who upset Washington with his comments on
America's war on terrorism, is to retire next spring, the Ministry of Defence
announced yesterday, in a shake-up at the top of the armed forces.
He will be replaced by General Sir Michael Walker, now head of the army, who
will be succeeded by General Sir Mike Jackson, who negotiated the withdrawal of
Yugoslav forces at the end of the Kosovo war.
An army source described Sir Mike, head of the land forces, as "the people's
choice". Sir Mike is known for straight talking.
He was also adjutant of the battalion of the Parachute Regiment at the time
when its soldiers killed 14 unarmed marchers on Bloody Sunday in Derry in
January 1972.
Sir Michael made it clear in an interview with the Guardian last year that he
was deeply sceptical about the White House's missile defence plan. He also irked
Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, by saying the war in Afghanistan
could last for years.
He later warned that a US decision to widen its military campaign against
al-Qaida terrorists could further radicalise Arab opinion. The US was pursuing a
"single-minded aim" of destroying Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network, but
the object should not be simply to get bin Laden in a "hi-tech, wild west"
operation, Sir Michael said. It was important to rebuild Afghanistan and attack
the causes of al-Qaida terrorism by mounting a "hearts and minds" campaign
across the Arab world.
Sir Michael will have served as chief of the defence staff for a little over
two years. His predecessors held the job for three years. "Admiral Boyce has
done a superb job and will be replaced by another superb man," Geoff Hoon, the
defence secretary, said yesterday.
General Walker, who will take over in April, made his name when he was
responsible for sensitive operations in Sierra Leone, Bosnia and Macedonia.
Commentators have suggested he would be the best choice as the army prepares
for continuing operations abroad, including an expected invasion of Iraq.
Sir Mike Jackson, whose appointment was enthusiastically welcomed by the
army, will be replaced by Lieut General Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman, adjutant
general responsible for personnel. He in turn will be replaced by Lieutenant
General Alistair Irwin, the army's commander in Northern Ireland, who will be
succeeded by Major General Phillip Trousdell.
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