Lord Ashdown has called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as homegrown forces are trained – regardless of the country’s security status.
The former Liberal Democrat leader said the Iraq invasion had been derailed by ‘ridiculously over-ambitious aims to recreate Washington in Baghdad’, which he referred to as a ‘cardinal sin’.
Lord Ashdown, who co-chaired the Iraq Commission that examined how the conflict unfolded, said there were ‘no risk-free options’ left for the coalition.
‘What we have had to do is choose the least worst one,’ he said, adding that coalition forces could no longer suppress violence in Iraq.
The Government has promised to bring troops home as soon as security in Iraq improves.
But Lord Ashdown warned that this would allow insurgents to dictate the rate of Britain’s pull-out, adding: ‘Our withdrawal should be determined not by security but by the state of training of the Iraqi forces.’
In its report the commission calls for Britain to ‘pursue changes of policy’ on Iraq from its allies.
