Ian Blair does not have the right to come out publicly and say that 42 day detention is necessary in the middle of a controversial and very tight political debate; he's probably right that from a strictly policing point of view giving the police more powers would help, but it's up to the politicians to determine how to balance that with the need to protect civil liberties and he should not be trying to influence the debate. Dannatt is probably right that more troops and equipment would help make acheiving the objectives easier, but it's the government who determine what level of resources to provide.
It's impossible to be consistent while criticising Blair but allowing Dannatt to speak out, their position is the same. If you can genuinely say that you have no problem with Blair's intervention in the terrorist legislation debate then fine, you're at least consistent which I respect, though I disagree with you. But if you think Blair was wrong to speak out you can't at the same time support Dannatt. Like I said earlier, it's not about political views or being a Labour stooge, as agricola has suggested; I oppose Blair's comments and think they were wrong, I happen to support the war in Afghanistan, I think far more resources should be provided and I think the government has made a complete pig's ear out of setting out specific objectives that are to be acheived, despite all that I don't think that Dannatt should be intervening in a political debate.
