Departure of army chief reveals deeper malaise among top military brass

The exit of General Sir Patrick Sanders has raised concerns about deeper underlying issues in the UK’s armed forces, writes Kim Sengupta

General Sir Patrick Sanders (PA)

The withdrawal from Basra Palace in September 2007 followed one of the most dangerous times of sustained violence faced by the British forces in Iraq. There were relentless attacks, mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, and ferocious firefights in the ambush alleys of the city.

The 550 troops of the 4 Rifles Battle Group, and those of us who accompanied them, drove out of the palace with bullets smacking into the sides of armoured cars. The British troops fought all the way. One soldier, Corporal Lucas Farrell, told me that he had fired 600 rounds from his GPMG (general-purpose machine gun) during the journey.

The convoy arrived at the airport, the last UK base remaining after the palace, for final departure from an inglorious and bitterly divisive war. The soldiers, exhausted but unbowed, spoke not just of their own experiences, but also about comrades killed and maimed in a mission, which had seemed increasingly futile.