Blair: Iraq has been a disaster

Admitting the failure of Western forces in containing the violence in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the invasion of the country had been 8220;disastrous8221;.

Challenged in an interview by David Frost on the first edition of his Frost Over the World programme on Al-Jazeera8217;s new English-language channel that the Western intervention in Iraq had 8220;so far been pretty much of a disaster8221;, Blair said: 8220;It has.8221;

Blair, however, stopped short of accepting the blame for plunging Iraq to the brink of civil war8212; blaming instead the insurgent uprising that has killed 125 British troops, and insisted: 8220;We are not walking away from Iraq. We will stay for as long as the Government needs us to stay.8217;8217;