UK 'missed opportunity in Iraq'

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Britain missed its chance to stabilise Iraq after the invasion in 2003, the head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, has said.

Addressing the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, he said they had not kept enough troops on the ground as focus shifted to Afghanistan.

He also lamented the coalition forces' failure to take early decisive action that allowed Shia militias to rise up.

His remarks come ahead of an independent inquiry into the Iraq war.

The inquiry, to be chaired by Sir John Chilcot, will look at what lessons can be learned from July 2001 to July 2009.

Earlier this month, Sir Richard reacted to news that much of the inquiry would be held in private, saying he saw "a lot of merit" in conducting some hearings in public.

We must not repeat the mistakes of 2003 to 2004 when we recruited and deployed hastily security forces of very limited effectiveness and, as it turned out, of questionable loyalty General Sir Richard Dannatt

In the keynote speech to the think tank, the Chief of General Staff said one of the key lessons from the conflict was the need to achieve a "decisive effect" early on.

"In Iraq this meant acting while we had a window of consent to address the security and basic needs of the Iraq people, reconstruction, development and developing the capacity of indigenous security forces," he said.

"Our failure to deliver this through proper investment and a comprehensive approach and our early switch to an economy of force operation in favour of Afghanistan sowed the seeds for the dissatisfaction that followed and the rise of the militias supported so cynically by the Iranians in the south."

'Proper resources'

The general added that the coalition had failed to ensure it had enough troops on the ground, "surging" the numbers when the situation demanded.

He also said mistakes were made in the recruitment and training of Iraq security forces who were deployed too quickly, before they were ready for operations.

"We must acknowledge that it takes time, expertise and resources to develop impartial, loyal, well-trained, well-equipped and well-led local security forces," he said.

"We must not repeat the mistakes of 2003 to 2004 when we recruited and deployed hastily security forces of very limited effectiveness and, as it turned out, of questionable loyalty."

He also warned against drawing the wrong lessons from Iraq.

He said it would be wrong to abandon completely Tony Blair's doctrine of "liberal intervention", citing examples of successful operations in Sierra Leone and East Timor.

However he stressed future interventions should only be undertaken if they could be properly resourced.

"We either tailor our ambitions to the force we can afford or we must properly resource the undertaking that we are committed to within the coalition. Not to do so risks repeating the experience of Iraq," he said.