Anger as Salmond claims Scottish troops are opposed to Iraq war

Published on Thursday 20 March 2008 21:15

ALEX Salmond, the First Minister, last night defended his claim that Scottish troops were against the Iraq war.

He insisted Scottish troops agreed with him in opposing the invasion and said: "Don't believe that the views of Scots squaddies are any different to the views of the Scottish population."

But his view was condemned by Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, the Scottish Conservatives and a Labour MSP.

Mr Browne, who is also Scottish Secretary, said he completely rejected the First Minister's assumption. "Alex Salmond's comments are simply nonsense," he said.

"On every occasion I have been in Iraq, I have met Scottish soldiers across the ranks and they are all extremely proud of the work they have done in liberating Iraq from tyranny, training Iraqi forces and providing the Iraqi people with security from some of the most vicious terrorists in the world."

He added that it was revealing that, to his knowledge, "no SNP MPs or MSPs have been out to visit our troops".

Mr Browne said: "No doubt they fear having to explain to ordinary Iraqis why, five years on, the SNP still regret the toppling of the tyrant who oppressed them."

Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Conservatives' deputy leader, said Mr Salmond's comment had been an "unwarranted and unwanted intervention", and he accused the First Minister of "seeking to politicise our armed forces for narrow political ends".

He went on: "He is playing a dangerous game in potentially undermining the morale of frontline troops, who daily put their lives on the line.

"I cannot imagine the families of those serving in Iraq welcome these destabilising comments. This is not the action of a statesman or a responsible politician."

The Labour MSP George Foulkes said: "The arrogance of Alex Salmond knows no bounds. If he or any of his SNP colleagues had bothered to visit our troops in Iraq, he would see the pride they hold for the job they do."

Mr Salmond had told BBC's Reporting Scotland: "They (troops] do their job because they are professionals and they do it bravely and completely.

"They get kicked in the teeth when they are in Iraq by their regiments being wound up. They get treated disgracefully by the government across a range of ways, which has broken the military covenant. But their views about the rights and wrongs of conflict are very similar to the rest of us."

The First Minister yesterday defended his claims, saying he received complaints all the time from service families about the treatment of serving troops and their poor equipment.

"Des Browne should be apologising to everyone in the country for being part of the disgraceful decision five years ago to drag us into an illegal war on a false prospectus. And he should apologise to every service family for breaking the military covenant by scrapping the historic Scottish regiments," he said.

"It is nonsense to imagine that these brave men and women – who come from all the communities of Scotland – differ in their views from their friends, families and the population at large about the fact that Tony Blair took the country into an unlawful war on bogus information."

Mr Salmond was supported in his views by campaigner Jeff Duncan, of the Reinstate Our Army Regiments group.

He blamed the government's "destructive action" that had led to the disbandment of the Royal Scots Regiment and the amalgamation and effective ending of the remaining five Scottish regiments.

He added: "Alex Salmond is a great friend of Scotland's servicemen and women, and he is entirely right to speak his mind in the way he has.

"The SNP have held to a clear and consistent position on Iraq, which I, too, believe is shared among the troops."

Meanwhile, in a survey leaked to Channel 4 News last night by the Army Families Federation, 46 per cent of army spouses said they would be happier if their partner left the forces.