British PM Tony Blair agreed with the view that the violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has been a disaster. He was speaking in an interview on the new al-Jazeera English-language Arabic TV channel.
Later a PM spokesman insisted Blair's views had been misrepresented and that he had not made "some kind of admission". A spokeswoman said: "He was simply acknowledging the question in a polite way before going on to explain his view. "To portray it as some kind of admission is completely disingenuous."
During the interview, Blair said: "You see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? "It's not difficult because of some accident in planning.
"It's difficult because there's a deliberate strategy - al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other - to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war."
When asked about British forces in Iraq, Blair said: "We have said that we will stay as long as the Iraqi government needs us to do so."
