Hugh Michael Rose
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General Sir (Hugh) Michael Rose, KCB CBE DSO QGM (born 1940 in what was then British India) is a retired British Army General. As well as commanding 22 SAS, his best-known - and most controversial within and outside the Army - appointment in the regular army was as Commander UNPROFOR Bosnia from 1994 to 1995 during the aftermath of the Yugoslav Wars.
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[edit] Early life
The stepson of British author John Masters, Sir Michael was educated at Cheltenham College, St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He was commissioned into the Gloucestershire Regiment Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve (TAVR) in 1959, and transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) in 1962. He joined the Coldstream Guards in 1964.
[edit] Military career
After attending the Staff College, Camberley, Rose became the Brigade Major 16th Parachute Brigade from 1973 until 1975. He was Commanding Officer of the 22nd SAS Regiment from 1979 to 1982, as part of which he was in control of the operation to free the hostages of the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980. He commanded Special Service operations in-theatre as a colonel during the Falkland Conflict. He then served as the commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade from 1983 to 1985. In 1987, Sir Michael was the Commandant of the School of Infantry until 1988, when he became the first Director Special Forces until 1989. He attended the Royal College of Defence Studies.
Rose was General Officer Commanding North East District and Commander 2nd Infantry Division from 1989 to 1991, and between 1991 and 1993 served as Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley. Then, from 1993 to 1994, Rose was Commander UK Field Army and Inspector-General of the Territorial Army. Finally, from 1994 to 1995 he was Commander, United Nations Protection Force, Bosnia-Hertzegovina.
He was Deputy Commander-in-Chief Land Command for part of 1995, then Adjutant-General and Aide-de-Camp General to The Queen until 1997.
Rose was awarded the QGM 1981, made a CBE 1986, was knighted with a KCB 1994, and received the DSO in 1995.
Rose was one of the most highly decorated British soldiers in the latter part of twentieth century. He had extensive experience world-wide, particularly in the Middle East, as a special forces officer. Rose served in Germany, Aden, Malaysia, the Gulf States, Dhofar, and in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands, for both of which he was mentioned in dispatches, mostly in a relatively informal, small formation setting, working to very narrow objectives, with clearly superb results.
His lack of European land warfare command and control experience, within a large, multi-national, high-level formation military and political framework was somewhat exposed in his Balkan posting. The contrast in the effectiveness of his appointment is generally accepted as being no better demonstrated with the performance of his successor within and without his headquarters in Bosnia, Lt Gen Rupert Smith.
He Is also Colonel of the Coldstream Guards.
[edit] Other occupations
Rose is a director of Control Risks Group, a private security and consulting company.
[edit] Opposition to Tony Blair
In 2006 he came once again to public attention when he criticised British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and called for his impeachment for leading the country to war in Iraq under false pretenses. This highlighted the unease felt in the highest levels of the British armed forces about the legality, and indeed the practicality, of the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq.
On January 9, 2006, Rose called for Tony Blair to be impeached over the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, saying on BBC Radio 4's Today programme "To go to war on what turns out to be false grounds is something that no one should be allowed to walk away from."
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- BBC News: Impeach Blair over Iraq - general
- "Unfinest Hour : Britain and the Destruction of Bosnia" Brendan Simms, pub Allen Lane The Penguin Press 2001
