“The Insubordination of the Week” au général the Lord Guthrie, pour ses remarques sur les catastrophes en cours

C’est désormais une telle habitude qu’on pourrait faire une institution, une sorte de prix “The Insubordination of the Week”, à attribuer, chaque semaine, à un nouveau général britannique décidant de dire publiquement tout le mal qu’il pense de la catastrophique politique britannique (en Irak, en Afghanistan et ainsi de suite).

Cette fois il s’agit du général Guthrie, officiellement “General the Lord Guthrie”, pair du royaume après une prestigieuse carrière jusqu’à la direction générale des armées sous le Tony Blair glorieux de 2001-2002. Guthrie traite ceux (Blair en premier) qui prirent les décisions d’envoi des forces britanniques en Afghanistan, avec leurs capacités si réduites et risquant une catastrophe militaire, de “cuckoo” (coucou, mais aussi “toqué”). En langage britannique imagé, le mot implique une bien faible considération pour l’intelligence de celui qui est ainsi qualifié.

Guthrie nous informe donc, après Donnatt et Inge, des catastrophiques conditions britanniques, dans une interview à The Observer. La remarque la plus intéressante que doit susciter cette intervention, à notre sens, c’est celle qui concerne la véritable institutionnalisation de la critique du pouvoir politique par les corps qui devraient lui être soumis notamment par un devoir de silence, — dans ce cas les militaires, ceux qui devraient être les plus silencieux…

Extraits de “The Insubordination of the Week”

«Tony Blair's most trusted military commander yesterday branded as ‘cuckoo’ the way Britain's overstretched army was sent into Afghanistan.

»The remarkable rebuke by General the Lord Guthrie came in an Observer interview, his first since quitting as Chief of the Defence Staff five years ago, in which he made an impassioned plea for more troops, new equipment and more funds for a “very, very” over-committed army.

»The decision by Guthrie, an experienced Whitehall insider and Blair confidant, to go public is likely to alarm Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence more than the recent public criticism by the current army chief Sir Richard Dannatt. “Anyone who thought this was going to be a picnic in Afghanistan — anyone who had read any history, anyone who knew the Afghans, or had seen the terrain, anyone who had thought about the Taliban resurgence, anyone who understood what was going on across the border in Baluchistan and Waziristan [should have known] — to launch the British army in with the numbers there are, while we're still going on in Iraq is cuckoo,” Guthrie said.

»In a unprecedented show of scepticism towards Blair, he said the Prime Minister's promise to give the army “anything it wants” was unrealistic. “I'm sure he meant what he said. He is not dishonest. But there is no way you can magic up trained Royal Air Force crews, or trained soldiers, quickly. You can't magic up helicopters, because there aren't any helicopters,” said Guthrie, promoted from chief of army staff to become overall head of the military for Blair's first term of office.

»Guthrie said Britain was “reaping the whirlwind” for assuming too great a ‘peace dividend’ after the Cold War and risks being ill-equipped for a whole new set of dangers. He also cast doubt on suggestions of an early pullout from Iraq, saying that Britain could not afford to leave a “bloodbath” behind.»

Mis en ligne le 29 octobre 2006 à 09H45