ABSTRACT
One of the few advantages of writing a speech on the run, and then addressing a conference such as this well down the batting order, is that you can cheat. But since we in the military are always scrupulously honest with the media, I will ‘fess up’ to making some adjustments to my paper – particularly after I listened to Peter Young yesterday. Admiral Metcalf described his approach to the media as having a set of ‘rules of engagement’. I could describe my approach as including flexibility as a principle of war – but I won't. Because, as I hope to make clear today, I want to get away from suggestions of confrontationalism. So I will describe my cheating as a ‘pragmatic approach’ – with an eye perhaps to a future political career.
