| rdfs:comment | - Lieutenant General Sir James Benjamin "Jim" Dutton, KCB, CBE, ADC (born 21 February 1954) is a retired Royal Marines officer. He held various staff positions in his early career, before commanding 40 Commando. As a brigadier, he held two high-level staff posts—the first at the Ministry of Defence in London, as Director of NATO policy, and the second as a British liaison to The Pentagon shortly after the September 11 attacks, where he was involved in the planning for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. A newspaper later pinpointed this as the moment when Dutton's career "took off".
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| abstract | - Lieutenant General Sir James Benjamin "Jim" Dutton, KCB, CBE, ADC (born 21 February 1954) is a retired Royal Marines officer. He held various staff positions in his early career, before commanding 40 Commando. As a brigadier, he held two high-level staff posts—the first at the Ministry of Defence in London, as Director of NATO policy, and the second as a British liaison to The Pentagon shortly after the September 11 attacks, where he was involved in the planning for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. A newspaper later pinpointed this as the moment when Dutton's career "took off". After the planning for the invasion, Dutton took command of 3 Commando Brigade, which was already serving in Afghanistan. In 2003, he led the brigade into the start of Iraq War, supported by units from the British Army as well as the United States Marine Corps, making Dutton the first British officer to command American troops since the Second World War. He commanded his men through heavy resistance from Iraqi forces in the early days of the war. As a general officer, he served as Commandant General Royal Marines, the professional head of the Royal Marines and a dual-hatted appointment with Commander UK Amphibious Forces, for two years. While in this post, Dutton returned to Iraq to command Multi-national Division (South-East) in 2005, where he attracted media attention through outspoken remarks alleging Iranian support for the insurgents in Iraq. His last field post, as a lieutenant general, was as Deputy Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. He held the position from 2008 to 2009, during the peak of the Taliban insurgency, and assisted American General Stanley A. McChrystal, then commander of ISAF, in redesigning the military strategy to combat the insurgency. Dutton retired in 2010.
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