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Richard Dannatt
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General Sir Francis Richard Dannatt, GCB, CBE, MC (born 23 December 1950) is the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army.
son of an architect, he was born in Chelmsford in Essex on 23 December 1950. He was educated at Felsted School and St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate. He also attended Hatfield College, Durham University, where he was elected president of the Durham Union Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economic History.
att was commissioned into The Green Howards regiment in 1971.
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Encyclopedia
General Sir Francis Richard Dannatt, GCB, CBE, MC (born 23 December 1950) is the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army.
Early life
The son of an architect, he was born in Chelmsford in Essex on 23 December 1950. He was educated at Felsted School and St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate. He also attended Hatfield College, Durham University, where he was elected president of the Durham Union Society. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economic History.
Army career
Dannatt was commissioned into The Green Howards regiment in 1971. He has served with the 1st Battalion in Northern Ireland (where he was awarded the Military Cross), Cyprus and Germany and commanded the Battalion in the Airmobile role from 1989 to 1991. From 1994 to 1996 he commanded 4th Armoured Brigade in Germany and Bosnia. He took command of the 3rd (United Kingdom) Division in January 1999, and also served in Kosovo that year as Commander British Forces.
In 2000 he returned to Bosnia as the Deputy Commander Operations of the Stabilisation Force (SFOR). From 2001 to 2002 he was the Assistant Chief of the General Staff in the Ministry of Defence before taking command of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). In March 2005 he took over as Commander-in-Chief, Land Command and assumed the appointment of Chief of the General Staff in August 2006, replacing General Sir Mike Jackson.
Already a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), Dannatt was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
Daily Mail interview, October 2006
Comments on the British Army in Iraq
Based on an interview published October 13, 2006 in the Daily Mail, some political activists have claimed that General Dannatt publicly called for the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq, stating that their presence "exacerbates the security problems" for the United Kingdom worldwide.
Following extensive publicity about the Daily Mail interview he gave an interview on BBC radio and stated that when he talked about pulling out of Iraq "sometime soon", he meant that "when the mission is substantially done we should leave".
He explained: "We don't want to be there another two, three, four, five years. We've got to think about this in terms of a reasonable length of time." He also qualified the "exacerbate" comment by saying that the problem was "not right across the country", but in only parts of it. 10 Downing Street's spokesman stated that General Dannatt was "actually saying what government policy is: we don't want to be there any longer than we have to, but ultimately that is a decision for the Iraqi government." The White House issued a similar statement. Kamran Karadahi, spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, called for the troops to stay: "They are still needed very much to help Iraq. The British troops in the south have done a very good job and are still doing so."
In the Daily Mail interview General Dannatt also questioned the political aims of the Iraq mission: "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 added: "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." He speculated: "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."
"Christian values" and "the Islamist threat" in Britain
An evangelical Anglican, Gen. Dannatt called for a return to traditional Judeo-Christian values in order to counter "the Islamist threat" within British society. In the same Daily Mail interview, he said: "When I see the Islamist threat in this country I hope it doesn't make undue progress because there is a moral and spiritual vacuum in this country." British society, he said, "has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind." In his view, "There is an element of the moral compass spinning. I think it is up to society to realise that is the situation we are in." He identified aspects of radical Islam as the heart of the matter: "We can't wish the Islamist challenge to our society away and I believe that the army both in Iraq and Afghanistan and probably wherever we go next, is fighting the foreign dimension of the challenge to our accepted way of life." It is important, he added, "to face up to the Islamist threat, to those who act in the name of Islam and in a perverted way try to impose Islam by force on societies that do not wish it." He concluded: "It is said that we live in a post Christian society. I think that is a great shame. The broader Judeo-Christian tradition has underpinned British society. It underpins the British Army."
Overall reaction
General Dannatt's comments have received a measure of support in the British Army and amongst retired generals, including former Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal the Lord Bramall. Others are less supportive. The former Home Secretary David Blunkett, for instance, has also criticised Gen. Dannatt for "interfering" in politics, saying it was a "constitutional" issue. An ICM opinion poll for the 15 October 2006 edition of the Sunday Express showed that 71 per cent of the British people believed General Dannatt was right to say that the British presence in Iraq was exacerbating the security situation there. 74 per cent agreed that British soldiers should leave Iraq "some time soon", 57 per cent agreed with Gen. Dannatt's view that "Islamists" were exploiting a "moral vacuum" in British society, and 44 per cent also wanted to see the British Army play a greater role in fighting "Islamic extremism" in Britain.
Prince Henry and Iraq
On 16 May 2007, Dannatt made the decision to restrict Prince Henry of Wales (commonly called Prince Harry) from being deployed to Iraq with the rest of his Blues and Royals squadron. He said that during his prior week's visit to Iraq he had experienced the types of threat that would occur in Iraq for the Prince, he decided to reassess whether or not to deploy him. He said 'there was too great a risk, not only to himself but the people with him'. He therefore came to the conclusion, subsequently, not to let the Prince go on the deployment tour to Iraq with his squadron. Conversely in 2008 the Prince was able to secretly take part in operations in Afghanistan.
Comments on the Iraqi Resistance/Insurgency
In September 2007, during a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Dannatt made remarks that, once again, seemed to put him at odds with the Army's political leadership:
The militants (and I use the word deliberately because not all are insurgents, or terrorists, or criminals; they are a mixture of them all) are well armed – probably with outside help, and probably from Iran. By motivation, essentially, and with the exception of the Al Qaeda in Iraq element who have endeavoured to exploit the situation for their own ends, our opponents are Iraqi Nationalists, and are most concerned with their own needs – jobs, money, security – and the majority are not bad people.
Block on promotion to head of British armed forces
In June 2008 the Sunday Times reported that Dannatt's expected routine promotion to Chief of the Defence Staff had been personally blocked by Prime Minister Gordon Brown "because of his repeated calls for better pay and conditions for servicemen"
Later career
On the 3 February 2009, it was announced by Number Ten Downing Street that Queen Elizabeth II has appointed General Dannatt as the next Constable of the Tower of London. He will be the 159th Constable of the Tower and will assume the post on 31 July 2009.
Private life
Dannatt married in 1977 and has three sons and one daughter. His recreations are tennis, cricket, rugby football, skiing, fishing, shooting and reading.
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