It's time to get out of Iraq, senior Tory says

LONDON, Apr 21 (Reuters) British troops should get out of Iraq now because it is in a state of civil war, former shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Ancram said today.

In a stark contradiction of Conservative party policy, Ancram said Britain's 8,000 troops in Iraq ''should come home now, while they can with honour and dignity''.

''Whatever word games Tony Blair, Jack Straw and John Reid may try to play, everyone knows that Iraq today is effectively in a state of civil war,'' Ancram wrote in the Daily Mail.

He said the US-led coalition had made ''crass mistakes'' following its invasion three years ago, notably by dismantling Iraq's security forces to rid them of Saddam Hussein's supporters, and by failing to put in place a post-war reconstruction plan.

Ancram, who, along with most Tory MPs, voted in favour of the invasion, admitted he had been wrong about Saddam's weapons capability, adding that ''the shadow of Vietnam'' now hovered over the country.

''Iraq is a mess -- and a dangerous one at that,'' he said.

''Far from getting better, it is getting worse.

''We have no place in Iraq in a civil war. We cannot, and must not, take sides between Sunnis and Shias.'' The Conservative party supported the war and has continued to share Prime Minister Blair's view that British troops should stay in Iraq ''until the job is done''.

Its policy has not changed since David Cameron took over the Tory leadership late last year.

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