BRITAIN: The Blair government has been accused of incompetence and failure in "post-conflict planning" and told it now risks "losing the peace" in Iraq.
As the beleaguered Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, confirmed an extra 1,200 British troops headed for the UK area of operations in the south of the country, around Basra, the Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, claimed that government splits could endanger the lives of troops there.
And a Conservative backbencher, Mr Andrew Mackay, branded the post-conflict situation in Iraq "a shambles", while the party's defence spokesman, Mr Bernard Jenkin, described the new deployments as "necessary" while also "a humiliation" for the government, which had hoped to reduce its military commitment in Iraq.
While the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, sounded an upbeat note to MPs about progress in the reconstruction of Iraq, Mr Hoon said the deployment of 1,200 troops was in response to the "immediate requirement" assessment of British commanders on the ground, while allowing that additional deployments might be necessary as a result of a review of force strength under way.
Mr Hoon refused to comment on last week's reported leak of an assessment by Mr Straw suggesting a risk of strategic failure in Iraq unless at least a further 5,000 British troops were deployed.
The Liberal Democrats spokesman, Mr Paul Keetch, also welcomed yesterday's announcement while describing the additional deployment as "a drop in the ocean", with security only likely to be established once there was a multinational force in Iraq under UN command.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman insisted the decision to send extra troops was not a knee-jerk response to recent attacks but rather "a detailed targeted response" to achieving the objectives of improving Iraq's infrastructure and security and of putting an Iraqi government in place.
However, Mr Jenkin maintained the government had "bitten off more than they anticipated in Iraq".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme, Mr Jenkin also echoed Mr Duncan Smith's charge that government failures had worsened the position of British troops on the ground. "There has been a failure in post-conflict planning and that continued failure is spreading the disillusion with which the British armed forces are having to cope," he said.
These bad-tempered exchanges came ahead of a Tory-led Commons debate on the situation in Iraq and as Mr Duncan Smith sought to capitalise on the government's continuing embarrassment at the Hutton inquiry, suggesting that Mr Blair would have to resign if the inquiry found him to have been involved in the process leading to the public exposure of the weapons expert Dr David Kelly.
Asked last night how long he expected to remain in his post, Mr Hoon told the BBC: "For as long as the Prime Minister wants me to be in the job."