Archbishop of Canterbury renews attack on Iraq war

LONDON, Dec 29 (Reuters) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams issued his strongest criticism yet today of the US-led invasion of Iraq and the ensuing bloodshed, saying the flaws in the plans were becoming increasingly apparent.

''I said before the war began that I had grave reservations about the morality of it,'' the spiritual father of the world's 70 million Anglicans told BBC radio.

He said he was wholly prepared to believe decisions made over the war were made in good faith.

''But I think those decisions were flawed and I think the moral and the practical flaws have emerged as time has gone on. They have put our own troops increasingly at risk in ways that I find deeply disturbing,'' he added.

More than 3,000 US, British and allied troops have been killed since the March 2003 invasion to oust President Saddam Hussein.

Estimates vary of the number of Iraqi civilian casualties from allied action and the ensuing insurgency and sectarian conflict, but the Iraq Bodycount group of academics puts the figure at between 52,000 and 58,000.

Rising opposition to the war in Britain -- President George W Bush's staunchest ally -- and in the United States has forced a strategic policy rethink on both sides of the Atlantic.

Britain, which has 7,200 troops in Iraq -- mainly in the south -- has said it hopes to reduce that number by several thousand in 2007 as it hands over control to Iraqi forces.

Williams said he was in two minds over whether he should have opposed the war more vocally from the start.

''I can't easily balance for myself the pros and cons of ...

putting yourself at the head of a popular movement and resisting -- though that might be effective -- or that just becomes words, that just becomes noise,'' he said.

''I said what I believed I needed to say. I shall need to think quite a long time about whether I would have said more or less for that matter,'' he added.

With confusion reigning over when the death sentence will be carried out on Saddam for crimes against humanity, Williams also repeated his opposition to the death penalty, saying it signalled there was no room for change or repentance.

Reuters PDM VV1756