Blair defends Iraq record

Tony Blair today denied taking his "eye off the ball" in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq.

The Prime Minister accepted that the current situation was "grim", but insisted plans had been in place to deal with the "vacuum" left when Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

He added that the "principle reason" there was a problem in Iraq was because internal and external extremists were creating one.

Responding to criticism from Britain's former special representative in Baghdad, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Mr Blair said: "Yes, it's true, when we removed Saddam and his police and army, of course part of the establishment of repression, then we had to rebuild it.

"Where I don't agree with Jeremy is that no-one was thinking about rebuilding it. We actually were."

He said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there was no alternative but to disband the deposed regime's security services.

"There was no way that the Iraqi police force that was there under Saddam was going to be able to keep order in the country properly. They were an instrument of Saddam's dictatorship.

"You were always going to have to build the Iraqi police and army from scratch."

The Prime Minister accepted that the current situation was "grim", but insisted plans had been in place to deal with the "vacuum" left when Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

He added that the "principal reason" there was a problem in Iraq was because internal and external extremists were creating one.

Responding to criticism from Britain's former special representative in Baghdad, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Mr Blair said: "Yes, it's true, when we removed Saddam and his police and army, of course part of the establishment of repression, then we had to rebuild it.

"Where I don't agree with Jeremy is that no-one was thinking about rebuilding it. We actually were."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there was no alternative but to disband the deposed regime's security services.

"There was no way that the Iraqi police force that was there under Saddam was going to be able to keep order in the country properly. They were an instrument of Saddam's dictatorship.

"You were always going to have to build the Iraqi police and army from scratch."

Mr Blair, who yesterday announced plans to withdraw 1,600 British troops from southern Iraq, refused to rule out the possibility that they would have to return if trouble broke out.

"I don't want to get into speculating about that," he said.

He stressed, however, that the remaining 5,500-strong force would have the capability to intervene if called upon by the Iraqi authorities and he did not "anticipate" having to send reinforcements.

"We have the full combat capability that is there, so if we are needed to go back in in any set of circumstances, we can. The whole purpose of us being in a support role is precisely to do that," he said.

The Prime Minister rejected claims by Sir Jeremy that the coalition had failed to plan properly for the aftermath of the invasion and had left a security "vacuum" as a result.

"I don't accept that we failed in that responsibility. Actually, what we had to do was to rebuild an Iraqi army and police. We did do that," he said.

"It is true that when you removed Saddam - and his police and army, of course, were part of the establishment of oppression in Iraq - we then had to rebuild it. Where I don't agree with Jeremy is that no-one was thinking about rebuilding. We actually were rebuilding."

Mr Blair dismissed claims that a decision was taken in Washington to invade Iraq regardless of the intelligence on Saddam Hussain's weapons of mass destruction.

"The idea that there had been an irreversible decision taken there is one of these conspiracy theories that come in and out of the saga," he said.

The Prime Minister said there were no plans for military action against Iran and stressed his commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.

"I can't think that it would be right to take military action against Iran," he said.

"I think what is important is to pursue the political, diplomatic channel. I think it is the only way that we are going to get a sensible solution the the Iranian issue.

"I know of nobody in Washington that is planning for military action against Iran. You can't absolutely predict every set of circumstances that comes about, but Iran is not Iraq."

Mr Blair defended his record of foreign policy interventions during his 10 years in office.

"I think we can be proud of the interventions we have made," he said. "In removing the dictatorships that we have from Sierra Leone, from Kosovo, from Afghanistan and Iraq, yes, I believe the world is a better place, for the removal of those dictators."

He warned that Britain could not afford to ignore problems in other parts of the world as ultimately they would affect this country.

"If we let Sudan get any worse, if we let Somalia crumble, if we don't intervene to try to help those countries in Africa, at some point in the world in which we live today, those problems will come back and visit themselves upon us," he said.

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