The head of the Army will today call for creation of a new class of soldier specialising in nation-building and development to reconstruct the Iraqs and Afghanistans of the future.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, will say that the Army should consider creating “permanent cadres of stabilisation specialists” so that soldiers can deliver “civil as well as military effects within areas as diverse as governance, town administration, finance and banking, law and order and sanitation”.

This could mean placing soldiers under the command of the Foreign Office or the Department for International Development, General Dannatt will tell the centre-left Progress pressure group in a speech in Westminster tonight.

This would have a radical effect on military career-paths, which could see “an officer spending a tour with indigenous forces, followed perhaps by an attachment to DfiD overseas, or a local council at home or a police force in Africa or elsewhere”, he will suggest.

General Dannatt will also stress the importance of preparing soldiers for the “ethical challenges that they will face in today’s and tomorrow’s conflicts”, affirming that “sensitivity to culture, local beliefs and aspirations, and the soldier’s personal demeanour and approach, are all vital parts of campaigning today.”

The general will express his desire for the Army to act as a “force for good” in the modern world. He will say that, when soldiers cede “the moral high ground” and act “contrary to our traditional values and standards and fail to respect the human rights of those they have gone to help, then we risk falling from the high ground to the valley, often in a very public way”.

He will specifically condemn as “inexcusable”, the abuses at Abu Ghraib and the mistreatment of Baha Musa – whose family last week received a multi-million pound pay out over his death in a British detention centre. “I take no pride in the conduct of those of our people – however few – who took it upon themselves to deliberately abuse Iraqi civilians during 2003,” the general will say.

General Dannatt will caution that soldiers must not fall into line behind immoral orders. Referring to his own experience testifying at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, he will say that it is the responsibility of military leaders, “not only to look downwards, to the needs of their people, but also to have the courage to stand up to their superiors who may not know, or may not wish to know, the implications of the orders they have given.”

The military itself is “misunderstood” by sections of society at home, General Dannatt will further contend, arguing that in fact the Army “espouses many recognisable socialist ideals” – although “in a very philosophical rather than a party political way”.

He will claim that the Army is “the very epitome of the welfare state”, because “we provide everything from marriage guidance to social care to a roof over people’s heads”. He will add: “even if a soldier spends all of his money on beer and cars, we will not let him go hungry”.

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