Blix says Iraq worse off now than under Saddam

3.00pm

Hans Blix, the former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq, said yesterday that the country was worse off now than under the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Dr Blix, speaking as violence continued to sweep the country, said: "What's positive is that Saddam and his bloody regime is gone, but when figuring out the score, the negatives weigh more."

He told a Danish newspaper: "That accounts for the many casualties during the war and the many people who still die because of the terrorism the war has nourished. The war has liberated the Iraqis from Saddam but the costs have been too great."

Dr Blix's comments, made to the Jyllands Posten newspaper, intensified the pressure on Tony Blair as he prepared for talks on Iraq with George Bush and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary, also increased pressure on the Prime Minister, as he launched a bitter attack on the US-led coalition.

Writing in The Independent, he said the US administrator Paul Bremer's "ham fisted actions" had turned the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr into a major resistance figure and called on the US to produce a clear timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Mr Cook accused the coalition of "epic blunders" and said military planners were "wilfully negligent" in failing to prepare for the post-Saddam administration of the country.

Mr Cook said: "The first step is for the US to stop making the security situation worse by trying to crush any resistance with overwhelming force. Shelling crowded slum townships from Apache gunships simply convinces the bulk of their populations that the Americans regard them all as the enemy.

"It is a vicious irony that having promised that victory in Iraq would bring a road map to peace in the Middle East, the Bush Administration has in practice brought to Baghdad Sharon's military tactics against the Palestinians with precisely the same result in consolidating local opposition."

Downing Street confirmed that Mr Blair will hold talks on Iraq and other security issues with President Bush and Mr Kofi Annan next week. Mr Blair will have dinner with Mr Annan in New York next Thursday, and will meet President Bush the following day.

Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader and UN High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said that it could take a decade to secure peace in Iraq.

He told the BBC: "Realise that building peace takes a decade. It should be measured in decades, it doesn't take a year, as we thought in Bosnia. You shouldn't get out too soon."

Michael Ancram, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, warned that the deadline for the handover of pwoer in Iraq may have to slip if violence continues.

He said: "We should be flexible. We want to see the transfer to a stable and sustainable Iraqi administration taking place as soon as possible. However, if circumstances are not right we should not be tied by an artificial timeline."

Labour MPs urged Mr Blair to ensure that President Bush does not run down the US military presence in Iraq to satisfy domestic political pressure.

Malcolm Savidge, Labour MP for Aberdeen North and a vociferous critic of the war, appealed to Mr Blair to ensure that American troops were not withdrawn from Iraq to suit President Bush's reelection campaign.

He said: "Having created this situation it's vital to avoid the massive loss of live a civil war would produce and to avoid the risk of of turning Iraq into a failed state."

Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North and a leader of last year's rebellion against the war, said he was concerned that the White House would lose its resolve to remain in Iraq until the country could be guaranteed a stable future.

He said: "Having gone into Iraq prematurely we have a responsibility to do it right."

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Herald Feature: Iraq