Iraq Still in the Balance, Says Foreign Secretary

The government admitted yesterday that the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq had gone "much worse" than expected, while implicitly criticizing George Bush for his notorious postwar "mission accomplished" declaration.

In one of the most candid assessments yet, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, said that the battle to contain the insurgency in Iraq was still "in the balance". "It seems to me absolutely clear that the war itself went better than most people expected, but that the building of the peace afterwards has gone much worse than people expected," he told MPs.

This was "a basic truth" and the mission had "not yet been accomplished".

He indicated Britain accepted it faced a long haul in Iraq as he endorsed remarks by the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, in 2006, that "efforts to contain the insurgency appear to be in the balance".

Miliband added: "So they are today. His argument and my argument ... there are clearly clashes between the Iraqi security force and militia groups, never mind important developments on the political front."

Miliband's remarks came in a Commons debate as the government fought off Tory efforts to force an immediate inquiry on the war. He agreed an inquiry was needed but only once British troops had finished in Iraq. "The dispute between us does not concern substance but timing. The opposition have said the time is now.

"Given reports from Basra today, most people would see that as a bizarre choice of priority now. We say - in the words of the prime minister on March 19 - the 'right time to look at these issues and review the lessons learned is when our troops have finished their work in Iraq'."

The government later defeated the attempt to force an immediate inquiry by 299 votes to 271; its Commons majority of 67 was cut to 28 after 12 Labour MPs rebelled to support the Tory motion, and other labor backbenchers abstained.

Earlier, Hague said the UK should follow the US example, where the Baker commission led to big changes in policy. "The nation expects, our troops deserve, and the facts lead to, a fresh conclusion that the time to commence such an inquiry has indeed now been reached ... To close our minds to learning from, or to delay learning from, the issues [arising from the war] would be a dereliction of our duty."

Sir Menzies Campbell, former Liberal Democrat leader, accused the government of running scared - the reluctance to hold an inquiry showed "less a concern about the effectiveness of British operations in Basra and much more a determination in trying to prevent the government from embarrassment in relation to the decision to go to war".

The debate arose as the government prepared to announce new troop deployments to Iraq.