European securityU.K. exit from the EU would weaken the West in the war on terror: David Petraeus
General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and commander of the U.S. Central Command, warned on Sunday that Britain’s exit from the EU would weaken the West in the war on terror. Petraeus, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said that Britain leaving the EU would “deal a significant blow to [it’s] strength and resilience at exactly the moment when the West is under attack from multiple directions.”
General David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA and commander of the U.S. Central Command, warned on Sunday that Britain’s exit from the EU would weaken the West in the war on terror.
Petraeus, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said that Britain leaving the EU would “deal a significant blow to [it’s] strength and resilience at exactly the moment when the West is under attack from multiple directions.”
He stressed that none of the U.K.’s security problems would become easier to solve if Britain left the EU, saying he feared “that a ‘Brexit’ would only make our world even more dangerous and difficult to manage.”
Petraeus said: “In a time of such challenges, when our adversaries seek to sow division in our ranks and undermine the world order that we have sacrificed so much to build and defend, it is critical for the West to stand strong and united.
“And that, in turn, requires strong and principled American and British leadership inside the West.
“A Brexit would also reduce considerably Great Britain’s ability to influence and guide the future of Europe, still the world’s largest economic bloc; it would undoubtedly reduce British influence on the world stage, as well.”
Petraeus urged voters to “think twice before withdrawing from one of the most important institutions that undergirds Western strength: the European Union.”
He noted that he understood the appeal of isolationism in both the United Kingdom and the United States, but said history shows it is “a strategic dead end.”
He said: “Some have suggested that leaving the EU would reduce the risk of terrorism in the U.K. That is mistaken. The terrorist threat, unfortunately, will be with all of us for the foreseeable future, as the recent events in Belgium have just shown.
“In fact, the best way to defend ourselves is precisely by deepening military, intelligence, and diplomatic co-operation across the Western world, by working together with our partners on the continent and elsewhere to strike at the terrorists in their sanctuaries and tackle the underlying drivers of radicalization.
“The EU, for all its imperfections, is a vital player in this effort.”
