'Lack of thought' into Iraq war

Ex-Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell has criticised the post-invasion planning. Meanwhile, Britain's opposition parties are using the occasion of the fifth anniversary to call for an official inquiry.

Speaking on BBC1's Andrew Marr show Mr Powell said that the preparations were for the 'wrong kind of aftermath'. In his remarks reported on the BBC's own site Powell admitted that;

"I think we probably hadn't thought through the magnitude of what we were taking on in Iraq. This is something that will take many decades to sort out."

Meanwhile Britain's Conservative Party called for 'clarity' on the future of Britain's deployment. William Hauge, shadow Foreign Secretary, said on the same show that;

It is very important to commence the full-scale Privy Council inquiry into the origins and conduct of the war, because if we are not going to start it now, five years on from the beginning of the war, then when on earth would we have such an inquiry?

"Lessons have got to be learned, and visibly learned, and we have got to start on that process now.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called for the 'early and full' withdrawal of British troops and condemned Iraq as the biggest strategic failure of British foreign policy for decades.