Jackson ready to lead force

With the promotion of the head of the Army, General Sir Michael Walker, to be the new Chief of Defence Staff and General Sir Mike Jackson to succeed him as Chief of General Staff, the Army is lining up a strong team for possible operations in Iraq and the Gulf.

Seven new tented cities are being prepared in Kuwait for a build-up of United States forces to put further pressure on Saddam Hussein.

British forces, which already have reserves of tanks, artillery and ammunition in Kuwait, are likely to join them if America decides to go on a war footing.

The plan emerging from Washington is to slowly squeeze access routes to Iraq ? ?a good old-fashioned blockade?, according to a Pentagon adviser ? to persuade Saddam to allow international weapons inspectors back into Iraq. He expelled the last UN teams in 1998.

Tony Blair has said that Britain has ?strong evidence? that Saddam has continued to build weapons of mass destruction, particularly bacteriological weapons involving anthrax, botulism and smallpox.

The slow build-up of allied troops is expected to begin within a few weeks ? although there is little sign of the spectacular attack by hundreds of allied aircraft, special forces and 250,000 United States ground troops forecast by American and British newspapers earlier this month.

This now appears to have been a deliberate piece of psychological warfare by Washington to keep Saddam guessing. General Jackson is expected to oversee a major reshaping of the Army to be able to tackle operations ? small wars even ? in two or three regions at a time.

The emphasis is on flexible forces to be able to get to a battle area within 48 to 60 hours, instead of the 60 days it took the Royal Marines to get ready for action in Afghanistan this spring.

General Jackson?s appointment has proved hugely popular across the Army. With his craggy, well lived-in features, his is one of the few servicemen?s faces recognised by the public.

?He?s the soldier?s soldier, and we are delighted,? said a senior spokesman for the Army. ?The Prime Minister might even describe him as the people?s soldier.?

Though fiercely loyal to the Parachute Regiment, of which he is the Colonel Commandant, General Jackson said he does not want to see a ?two-tier? Army in which the Paras and Marines are automatically chosen for intervention operations.

?Everybody must get a fair crack of the whip,? he said this week.

General Jackson is expected to make a powerful reforming partnership in leading the Army with the new Assistant Chief of the General Staff, Major General David Richards, who won praise for the job he did in welding together peace operations in Sierra Leone and East Timor.

General Walker takes over the top slot as defence chief in April, when Admiral Sir Michael Boyce is due to retire from the post. General Walker is noted for his cool approach and almost unnerving calm in managing tricky operations, such as Nato?s first peace mission to Bosnia in 1996.