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Blair blames Iraq chaos on war `time-table'

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JULY 6. Finally, there is an `explanation' for why it is taking the British and the U.S. forces so long to control the post-war chaos in Iraq, and it comes straight from the horse's mouth.

According to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the war ended much sooner than the "original time-table" had envisaged and this upset the coalition's reconstruction plans based on the assumption that the conflict would last at least four months. Reacting to widespread criticism of the continuing confusion in large parts of Iraq nearly three months after the war ended, Mr. Blair admitted lack of preparedness to deal with the post-conflict situation but blamed it on the unexpectedly rapid collapse of Iraqi forces rather than poor planning by coalition forces.

"When I was talking to General Franks (commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq) the other day, he reminded me that under the original time-table for the conflict, it was going to take 125 days after the ground action began to complete the conflict.... Well, we are still within 125 days now, so I think it is possible to exaggerate the problems and difficulties,'' he said.

Mr. Blair ruled out an early withdrawal of British forces despite growing domestic pressure following widespread concern over their safety after the death of six soldiers recently.

"This was never going to be a situation where you could just go in, invade a country, topple the Government and walk away afterwards. And, therefore, I don't think it is the least surprising that the withdrawal will take some time," he said, adding that after all, British forces were still in Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan, long after the conflict had ended in these countries.

Mr. Blair's remarks over lack of post-war preparedness came three days after Paul Bremer, the U.S. special envoy to Iraq, reportedly told the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, that the U.S. had been slow in post-war planning.

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