U.K. armed forces set back 5 years by Iraq

LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- British forces will not be able mount a military operation on the scale of Iraq for another five years, Britain's top military officer said Wednesday.

Gen. Sir Michael Walker said if Tony Blair wanted to mount an attack on the scale of Iraq, other commitments would have to be cut back, the BBC reported Wednesday.

"We are unlikely to be able to get to large-scale much before the end of the decade, somewhere around 2008 or 09," Walker said.

He told the Commons Defense Committee military top brass had "already accepted that we cannot do another large scale [operation] now."

British armed forces are currently operating in five locations, with troops in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and Iraq.