Cook attacks US tactics in Iraq

Mr Cook is a former UK foreign secretary

US forces in Iraq must stop "acting like warriors and start acting like peacekeepers" said Robin Cook.

Mr Cook, who quit the cabinet over his opposition to invading Iraq, said he feared clashes in the past few days had "increased the strength of militants".

He said he thought the invasion of Iraq was due to US president's George W Bush's "geopolitical ambitions".

Iraq is likely to top the agenda when Tony Blair meets Mr Bush in Washington next week.

Missiles

Mr Cook argued that the current US policy in the Gulf was "not working".

"A number of changes need to be made if we are going to recover the situation in Iraq," Mr Cook told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The first and most compelling of those is that the US forces have got to stop acting like warriors and start acting like peacekeepers.

"Whenever they fly over townships and fire missiles into those townships then they are convincing everybody in them that they are the enemy.

"What we have done over the last few days, I fear, is we have increased the strength of the militants and we have cut the ground from underneath the moderates, which is the last thing we should be doing."

Middle East.

Tony Blair is due to meet UN secretary general Kofi Annan in New York on Thursday, and lunch with President Bush the next day in Washington.

A Number 10 spokesman said talks with Mr Annan will cover the political transition in Iraq, and the UN's role.

The pair are also likely to discuss Middle East issues and Africa.

With Mr Bush, the prime minister will talk about the situation in Iraq, the Middle East peace process, weapons proliferation and the battle against international terrorism.