General Sir Mike Jackson revelled in debate. He was accessible to all, making his strongly held views known to young soldiers, journalists, politicians and officials, both foreign and British. When I was the Guardian’s defence editor, we talked and drank long into one hot and sticky night on the North Macedonia/Kosovo border. At dawn he emerged, apparently clearheaded, calmly persuading the Serbs to lay down their arms.
Four years later, in 2003, he was furious about Washington’s decision to disband the Iraqi elite Republican Guard, shattering his hope that, guided by British brigadiers, they could maintain order after the flight (and later execution) of Saddam Hussein, thus avoiding the disastrous, continuing, violent consequences.
