Agence France Presse  --  Arab News

LONDON, 11 April 2004 — Former British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd yesterday sharply criticized Washington’s policy in Iraq, saying the United States was mistaken in believing it could impose democracy on the war-shattered country through the use of force.

“You really don’t win hearts and minds by filling hospitals and mortuaries,” said Hurd, who was foreign secretary between 1989 and 1995 in the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.

Hurd was referring to the recent fighting in Iraq between US forces and hard-line Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has left hundreds of Iraqis dead and hundreds more wounded.

Hurd told BBC radio that the recent upsurge in violence was “almost inevitable” and added that the US-led coalition should hand over power to Iraqis who have real influence in the country and not just those who have “curried favor” with the Pentagon.

Hurd also criticized Britain’s close support for the US administration over Iraq and urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to send an envoy to Baghdad to explain his government’s position.

Meanwhile British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon defended government policy, saying life had become much better in Iraq a year after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, despite current violence.

There was a “sense of real tangible progress in the country,” he told the BBC.