Britain is in danger of losing its nerve to fight wars after the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the head of the UK's Armed Forces has said, reports The Times.
General Sir Nicholas Houghton indicated that France was more willing to intervene in a foreign crisis than the UK, which he said displayed a “creeping aversion to risk in the employment of our Armed Forces”.
The Chief of the Defence Staff made his provocative remarks in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute in London in which he also warned that the Royal Navy was “perilously close” to critical mass after losing thousands of sailors to save money.
“The UK’s Armed Forces have never, in the 40 years I have known, been held in such popular high regard, but the purposes to which they have recently been put have seldom been more deeply questioned,” he said. “As a nation we have become sceptical about the ability to use force in a beneficial way.”
He praised France, which has deployed troops to fight in conflicts in Africa during the past year. “I have observed with some admiration the ability of French forces to operate with a mindset of aggressive risk management,” he said.
“We must be careful . . . not to lose our courageous instinct since it is one of the things which keeps us in a class apart.”
Read more of this report from The Times.