His comments come after Rory Stewart, the International Development Secretary, has said British people who convert to IS should be killed in Syria.
He was interviewed on Radio 5-Live where he suggested that British people who join IS are putting themselves at risk from UK and US missiles because they have joined the opposition – therefore they should be killed in Syria.
Lord Richard Dannatt si the formed head of the army and former Vice President of the Armed Forces Christian Union. He gave his perspective: "What Rory Stewart is saying is that those who have chosen to turn their back on our society here and have gone to Syria or Iraq have made a conscious choice to join to the opposition to our society."
But he said that where he differs if over the fact that not all British IS fighters will die abroad: "Given that so-called Islamic State is now very much on the back foot in Iraq and Syria – the strong hold in Raqqa has pretty much fallen and there are very few safe havens for them - a lot of these people are returning to the United Kingdom. And that's where we have to have a sensible and reasonable and just response to them."
Elaborating on this he said: "My own feeling is that...they should be stopped, they should be questioned and interrogated but unless we've got clear evidence that they've done wrong-doing, involving killings,...I think it's more generous of our society to welcome them back and to re-integrate them into our society".
He added: "There may be some people who the immigration authorities are concerned about – in which case they should be held for a period of time while evidence is either gathered or not against them, and if there is a case to be made against them they should be put through the criminal justice system in the normal way."