Bereaved father berates 'lapdog' Blair

Mr Blair had trumpeted his condolences to the family of Sergeant John Jones in the House of Commons, claiming: "He was doing a vital and heroic job in helping that country towards democracy. Our country can be very proud of him."

But the sergeant's father stormed: "Tony Blair should have his kids out there and then he would know how it feels. He is just Bush's lapdog."

Sergeant Jones is the latest soldier to have been killed in a roadside bombing incident in Iraq.

A Military Families Against the War spokesman noted that Mr Jones is "just one of an increasing number of army parents speaking out against this illegal war."

Security experts warned that the Blair government's slavish support for the Bush regime could leave troops stuck in Iraq "for decades."

The independent Oxford Research Group has studied the latest events in Iraq and warned that the war is still in its early stages. Its new study said that al-Qaida could keep the US tied up in Iraq for many years, while Britain will only withdraw troops in the "highly unlikely" event of a political break with Washington.

The bloody occupation has been a "gift" to the terrorist group, warned the researchers.

It has won recruits by portraying the US-led aggression as a neo-Christian occupation of a major Islamic state.

They noted that ensuring Iraqi security and maintaining a pliable government in Baghdad is an key part of US security policy, even if it requires a permanent military presence.

"Given that the al-Qaida movement and its affiliates are seeking to achieve their aims over a period of decades, rather than years, the probability is that, short of major political changes in the US, the Iraq war might well be measured over a similar time span."

The research group also pointed out that long-term access to Persian Gulf oil is essential to the US because of its increasing dependence on imported oil. Such factors all point to a long-term occupation.

And it said that the likelihood of a peaceful withdrawal of British troops from south-east Iraq is minimal without "a major policy shift for the Blair government, which would represent the sharpest difference in its relationship with Washington in the past eight years."

It noted: "In the present circumstances, it is highly unlikely, yet the war is likely to cast an increasing shadow over British policy in the next year."

A Stop the War Coalition spokesman said that the report was "further fuel" for the case for speedy withdrawal of troops, noting that "the Iraqi people don't want them there, the British and American public don't want them there and the troops themselves don't want to be there."

The report was published only a week after Defence Secretary John Reid claimed that British troops could begin the process of withdrawal from next year.

However, he added that this would depend on the readiness of Iraqi forces to assume responsibility for security.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair had also paved the way for a long-drawn-out occupation.

He claimed that over-hasty withdrawal of multinational forces would leave the country at the mercy of warring factions, although sources in Iraq have said that the situation is already one of de facto civil war.

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