Troop levels in Iraq ‘under review’ says Blair

Prime Minister Tony Blair has stated that troop levels in Iraq are constantly "under review", as a leaked memo - reported to be from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw - has come to light, warning of a “strategic failure” if a further 5,000 further troops are not dispatched to help secure and reconstruct Iraq.

Declining to comment on leaked documents, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has requested a “review of the forces and resources required to support UK operations in Iraq”. A spokesperson emphasised that if any decision was reached on altering “force levels” then ministers would inform parliament in the usual manner.

In the weeks since the official cessation of major military operations in Iraq, there has been a spate of attacks and bombings that have seen the deaths of 150 people.

Eleven of the 11,000 or so British soldiers currently on duty in Iraq have been killed and US forces have to date lost 67 of its 150,000 troops since George W Bush declared the initial military campaign over.

Faced with the prospect of thousands of casulties, with an average of around 10 troops wounded every day, Mr Bush has been exploring ways of increasing UN involvement in Iraq, as the US forces face continuing attrition. A draft UN security council resolution has been circulated that is a precursor to the commitment of a full UN sanctioned multinational force to Iraq.

This morning, a former US Army Secretary, Thomas White, was highly critical of the Bush administration’s preparations to deal with post-war Iraq.

"It's clear that not enough time was spent in planning the post-combat phase of this operation, and that no one, me included, realized the enormity and the complexity of the tasks that had to be concluded," Mr White told ABC television.

There are currently around 20,000 troops from other coalition partners in Iraq.

(SP)