Former British general "understands" Iraqi insurgents

Former British general "understands" Iraqi insurgents

Iraqi insurgents would not give in, he said.

"I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting."

The total number of UK troops killed in operations in Iraq stands at 147.

“Admit defeat”

Sir Michael has written a book drawing similarities between the tactics of insurgents and George Washington's men in America's War of Independence.

He told Newsnight: "As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, he said 'if I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms'”.

Rose is a former commander of a UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia during the war in that country.