Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon insisted life was now "measurably better" for most Iraqis despite spiralling violence in the country.
Looks the same to me...
Mr Hoon said there had been real progress in rebuilding the country with hundreds of refurbished schools and hospitals.
And he defended the coalition's tactics for putting down insurgents insisting there was no division between Britain and the US.
Meanwhile former foreign secretary Lord Hurd called on the Prime Minister to send a senior politician to Iraq to ensure the US did not call all the shots.
Mr Hoon conceded the increased violence over the past weeks had been "extremely difficult".
But he said there was steady progress on the reconstruction of the country.
He pointed to 2,500 refurbished schools, 18,000 reconstruction projects providing thousands of jobs, three million Iraqi children immunised against preventable diseases, 240 fully functioning hospitals and 600 primary health care clinics.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: "I don't think anyone, even the most critical commentator of the activity of coalition forces, could argue against the fact that in large parts of Iraq the situation is measurably better than it was 12 months ago and when it was under Saddam Hussein."
There was a "sense of real tangible progress in the country".
"It is necessary to recognize significant political progress, economic progress, the rebuilding and reconstructing of large parts of Iraq's infrastructure. Now that is going on. I accept that we have got to do more to sort out the security situation, but we are not going to do that by sitting back and allowing extremists, terrorists to attack and kill, not only coalition forces but also Iraqis trying to rebuild their own country."
Looks the same to me...
Mr Hoon said there had been real progress in rebuilding the country with hundreds of refurbished schools and hospitals.
And he defended the coalition's tactics for putting down insurgents insisting there was no division between Britain and the US.
Meanwhile former foreign secretary Lord Hurd called on the Prime Minister to send a senior politician to Iraq to ensure the US did not call all the shots.
Mr Hoon conceded the increased violence over the past weeks had been "extremely difficult".
But he said there was steady progress on the reconstruction of the country.
He pointed to 2,500 refurbished schools, 18,000 reconstruction projects providing thousands of jobs, three million Iraqi children immunised against preventable diseases, 240 fully functioning hospitals and 600 primary health care clinics.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme he said: "I don't think anyone, even the most critical commentator of the activity of coalition forces, could argue against the fact that in large parts of Iraq the situation is measurably better than it was 12 months ago and when it was under Saddam Hussein."
There was a "sense of real tangible progress in the country".
"It is necessary to recognize significant political progress, economic progress, the rebuilding and reconstructing of large parts of Iraq's infrastructure. Now that is going on. I accept that we have got to do more to sort out the security situation, but we are not going to do that by sitting back and allowing extremists, terrorists to attack and kill, not only coalition forces but also Iraqis trying to rebuild their own country."
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