Iraq chaos 'raising terror threat'.

Byline: DAVID WILLIAMS

IRAQ has become a breeding ground for terrorists because of the way coalition forces have run the country, a powerful group of MPs said yesterday.

In their disturbing assessment, they warn that Britain faces a greater threat of attack than before the war.

The damning report is especially critical of Britain's key ally, the U.S., stating that the excessive use of force by its troops had antagonized civilians and made rebuilding the country harder.

The verdict of the influential Commons Foreign Affairs committee will make bleak reading for Tony Blair as he tries to keep Iraq off the election agenda.

It echoes a recent warning by the U.S. that those trained in Iraq will take their 'expertise' to strike in other countries. The Commons committee, chaired by Labour MP Donald Anderson, said: 'The evidence points to the greater part of the violence stemming from Iraqi groups and individuals.

'Some are motivated by religious extremism and others have been dispossessed by policies adopted by the coalition since the war, such as de-Baathification and the disbanding of the security forces.' The report went on to warn that the slow pace of reconstruction and 'failure significantly to improve life for many Iraqis may have fuelled the insurgency by providing a pool of willing recruits'.

The MPs added: 'It is essential greater progress is made towards improving basic services and increasing employment opportunities so Iraqis see a material improvement in their lives.' They said the coalition had clearly failed to stem the violence and suggested the new Iraqi government should try to negotiate with the insurgents.

The committee also urged ministers to publicly set out plans to bring home British forces.

Four U.S. soldiers were killed and ten headless corpses were found dumped beside a road in another day of bloodshed in Iraq yesterday Two politicians, a cleric and a policeman were murdered and shocking videos of two executions were also released on the Internet.

In one, a soldier was beheaded and in the other a man was shot after admitting being an informer.

Iraqi police said seven of the decapitated corpses found 30 miles south of the capital were Iraqi soldiers and three were police officers.

Two of the American troops died in an attack on insurgents in eastern Diyala province.

Another soldier and a U.S. Marine died in explosions in Baghdad.

The murder victims included a Sunni cleric, Hilal Karim, killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad, and a Kurdish official killed in Mosul.

The policeman died when a roadside bomb hit his car in Basra.

The fourth victim was the father of a government translator shot dead by gunmen in Baqouba.

Soldier's murder charge dropped - Page 19

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CRITICISM of Britain's failure to say whether it acts on intelligence gained from torture is a particular embarrassment, says the report.

Britain has signed the Convention against Torture but there have been repeated suggestions that intelligence is received from allies who use those methods.

It is 'surprising and unsettling' that Ministers have twice refused to say whether they receive or act on such information. With British inmates now released from Guantanamo Bay, the Government 'need no longer keep its diplomacy quiet,' the MPs said.

'We recommend that the Government make strong public representations to the U.S.

administration about the oppressive conditions in Guantanamo Bay and other detention centres.

'U.S. personnel appear to have committed grave violations of human rights in various facilities.

'We recommend that the Government make it clear to the U.S., both in public and private, that such treatment of detainees is unacceptable.'