General Sir Michael "Mike" Jackson, GCB, CBE, DSO, ADC Gen (born 21 March 1944) is a British army officer, currently Chief of the General Staff. He was formerly commander of KFor in Kosovo as well as UNPROFOR (see Timeline of UN peacekeeping missions) commander in Bosnia. Military Badge of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. ... Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these... Source: Veterans Affairs Canada The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and other formerly Commonwealth countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat. ... An aide-de-camp (French: camp assistant) is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state. ... March 21 is the 80th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (81st in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. ... Pocket badge of the KFOR Ukrainian soldier on foot patrolling in Serbian village near Brezovica KFOR vehicle of the French Army The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international force responsible for establishing and maintaining security in Kosovo. ... Kosovo (Albanian: Kosovë/Kosova, Serbian: Косово и Метохија/Kosovo i Metohija) is a UN-administered province of Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. ... Pocket badge of the UNPROFOR The United Nations Protection Force, UNPROFOR, were the primary UN peacekeeping troops in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav wars. ... The United Nations has authorized 61 peacekeeping missions as of 2005. ... Bosnia and Herzegovina (also variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ...

Jackson's father was in the army. Jackson was a cadet at Stamford School CCF, in 1961 he went to the University of Birmingham. Jackson was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps aged 19 in 1963, specialising in the threat from the Soviet Union. He transferred to the Parachute Regiment in 1970 and was serving in Northern Ireland when the regiment was involved in the infamous Bloody_Sunday_(1972). He spent two years as Chief of Staff of the Berlin Infantry Brigade, then commanding a parachute company in Northern Ireland, later rising to become the commanding officer of 1 Para from March 1984 to September 1986. Stamford School is an English public school in the market town of Stamford, Lincolnshire. ... The Combined Cadet Force (CCF) is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. ... The University of Birmingham is an English university in the city of Birmingham. ... Intelligence Corps camp flag The Intelligence Corps (often called Int Corps) is one of the corps of the British Army, responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. ... Template:C20YearInnTopic 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... The Parachute Regiments display team, the Red Devils at an American airshow The Parachute Regiment is the main body of elite airborne troops of the British Army. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Dieu et mon droit (motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked 4th... Derry civil rights association banner stained with Bernard McGuigans blood after shootings On Sunday January 30, 1972, in an incident since known as Bloody Sunday, 14 people were killed and 13 others wounded by British paratroopers after a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in the Bogside area of... In military organizations, the commanding officer (CO) is the officer in command of a military unit. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the 1990s, Jackson served in the NATO chain of command as a deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Wesley Clark. In this capacity, he is best known for refusing to block the runways of the Russian-occupied Pristina Airport, to isolate the Russian troops there. Had he complied with General Clark's order, there was a chance the British troops under his command could have come into armed conflict with the Russians; doing this without prior orders from Britain would have led to his dismissal for gross insubordination. On the other hand, defying Clark would have meant disobeying a direct order from a superior NATO officer (Clark was a four-star general; Jackson only a three-star). Jackson ultimately chose the latter course of action, reputedly saying "I won´t start World War III for you!", though the point became irrelevant when the American government prevailed upon the Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians to prevent the Russians from using their airspace to fly reinforcements in. As a result, he was dubbed "Macho Jacko" by the British tabloid press. Among his own troops and the British press, however, Jackson had a reputation for being gaunt, severe, and prone to anger, earning him the nicknames "Darth Vader" and "Prince of Darkness". [1] The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This article deals with the military concept. ... Supreme Allied Commander is the title given to the most senior commander of some multinational organisations. ... Wesley Clark Wesley Kanne Clark (born December 23, 1944) is a retired four-star general in the U.S. Army. ... Prishtinë/Prishtina (Albanian indefinite/definite form) or Priština (Приштина) (Serbian) is the capital city of Kosovo, a landlocked province of Serbia located at 42°65′ N 21°17′ E. It is estimated that the current population of Prishtina is as high as 500,000. ... Darth Vader (41 BBY – 4 ABY) is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... Prince of Darkness is a box set of four CDs by Ozzy Osbourne released in 2005. ...

During the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War, Jackson, as Chief of the General Staff, ordered an inquiry into pictures released by the British tabloid The Daily Mirror that depicted alleged torture of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers. The Daily Mirror's editor Piers Morgan was later fired by the newspaper, after the pictures were shown to be a hoax. For other uses of the term, see Iraq war (disambiguation) The 2003 invasion of Iraq (also called the 2nd or 3rd Persian Gulf War) began on March 20, 2003, when forces belonging primarily to the United States and the United Kingdom invaded Iraq without the explicit backing of the United... Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. ... Alternate newspaper: The Daily Mirror (Australia) The Daily Mirror is a British tabloid daily newspaper, known for taking a left-of-centre editorial line. ... Torture is any act by which severe pain, whether physical or psychological, is intentionally inflicted on a person as a means of intimidation, a deterrent, revenge, a punishment, or as a method for the extraction of information or confessions (i. ... Piers appearing on Have I Got News For You Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (born March 30, 1965 in Newick, East Sussex) was editor of The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper, from 1995 until his sacking in 2004. ...

On February 23, 2005, soldiers of 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, were found guilty of abuse of Iraqi prisoners arrested for looting at an army camp called Bread Basket, in Basra, during May of 2003. After they were sentenced General Jackson, made a statement on television and said that: he was "appalled and disappointed" when he first saw photographs of the Iraqi detainees and that February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queens Division. ... Location of Basra Basra (also spelled BaÅŸrah or Basara; historically sometimes written Busra, Busrah, and the early form Bassorah; Arabic: , Al-Basrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. ...

The incidents depicted are in direct contradiction to the core values and standards of the British Army ... Nevertheless, in the light of the evidence from this trial I do apologize on behalf of the army to those Iraqis who were abused and to the people of Iraq as a whole.

In March 2006 in the aftermath of British Christian peace tourist Norman Kember's freeing from kidnappers after four months by a multinational armed force Jackson attracted interest when he, barely twenty four hours after Kember's liberation, attacked the hostage's lack of gratitude for the solidier's efforts in freeing him. Jackson claimed he was "saddened that there doesn’t seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives", and in doing so added to a media scrum demanding Kember's apology. Norman Kember being held as a hostage. ...

Jackson had bags under his eyes surgically removed. He refuses to be photographed in a suit, preferring military uniform instead, with the famous red beret of the Parachute Regiment.

General Sir Michael Walker, GCB, CMG, CBE, ADC Gen (born 7 July 1944) is the current Chief of the Defence Staff in the United Kingdom and thus the professional head of the British Armed Forces. ... Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. ...

External links

• Ministry of Defence's Chief of the General Staff biography
• Shock, Horror and General Mike Jackson
• British soldiers who abused Iraqis are jailed and dismissed from the Army The Independent 26 February 2005