UK Report warns Iraq, Afghanistan security Deteriorating by ABC / Reuters / SBS News 9:00am 30th Jul, 2004   30.7.2004.    UK REPORT DAMNING OF IRAQ ’PEACE’ (SBS World News)    A damning report on both Iraq and Afghanistan has been released by a committee of British MPs, with a warning things are getting worse in both countries. The report says Afghanistan is "in danger of implosion" and Iraq has been described as "a battleground for al-Qaeda".    In a major study on the war on terrorism, the House of Commons foreign affairs committee said the lack of law and order had created a "vacuum" for criminals and militias, with "appalling consequences" for Iraqi people. It added that Iraq's own police and armed forces are still "a long way from being able to maintain security," and warned that ongoing violence could mar elections planned for early next year.    "We conclude that the violence in Iraq stems from a number of sources, including members of the former regime, local Islamists, criminal gangs and Al-Qaeda," the committee said. "Iraq has become a 'battleground' for Al-Qaeda, with appalling consequences for the Iraqi people," it added.    "However, we also conclude that the coalition's failure to bring law and order to parts of Iraq created a vacuum into which criminal elements and militias have stepped." It blamed an "insufficient number of troops" for contributing to the breakdown in security, adding that it was "disappointing" that some countries - which it did not name - had not committed forces to Iraq.    The 181-page report was published by the 13-member cross-party committee a month and a day after the June 28 handover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi administration in Baghdad. It also came just a day after a suicide bombing outside a police station and a wave of attacks around the Iraq left more than 120 dead.    "No one can pretend that everything in the country is going well," said Donald Anderson, a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's governing Labour party.    Asked whether the Iraq war had increased the threat of terrorism, Mr Anderson, who chairs the committee, said: "Clearly there are elements of al-Qaeda that are there that were not there before."    On Afghanistan the report said opium production has increased and the government's power was limited to the capital. It warned that without urgent military and economic assistance the country was in danger of imploding.    July 30, 2004 (ABC New /Reuters)    A British parliamentary committee has warned the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq is getting worse.    The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee says Afghanistan is "in danger of implosion" and Iraq is "a battleground for Al Qaeda".    The highly critical report outlines a series of failures that have cost coalition opportunities in Iraq.    It says the United Kingdom's credibility has been damaged by the inability to provide basic services, such as electricity and water. The British MPs also say they are concerned there is a cover up of key intelligence and prisoner abuse. The report says militant groups are flourishing in Iraq, which risks becoming a failed state because there are not enough troops there.    It urges the British Government to encourage other nations to send troops to Iraq to shore up both the firepower and the legitimacy of US and UK forces.    "Iraq has become a 'battleground' for Al Qaeda ... The coalition's failure to bring law and order to parts of Iraq [has] created a vacuum into which criminal elements and militias have stepped," the cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee said.    On Afghanistan, the terrorism report says opium production has increased and the Government's power is limited to the capital. Without urgent military and economic assistance, it says the country is in danger of imploding.The committee says British forces, diplomats and aid workers in Afghanistan are overstretched.    It backs a call by Afghan President Hamid Karzai for more troops. "There is a real danger that if these resources are not provided soon that Afghanistan - a fragile state in one of the most sensitive and volatile regions of the world - could implode, with terrible consequences," the committee said.
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