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Sir Christopher Meyer, the UK's former ambassador to Washington, has told the Iraq Commission in London that the British and American military presence in Iraq is worsening security across the region and should be withdrawn quickly.

Quote:

"I personally believe that the presence of American and British and coalition forces is making things worse, not only inside Iraq but the wider region around Iraq. The arguments against staying for any greater length of time themselves strengthen with every day that passes.

I think the Iraqis are in fact sorting themselves out - often bloodily - independent of what we're doing."

This comes at the same time that the Americans themselves have realised that the security "surge" in Baghdad is failing.

As per the New York Times:

"Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city's neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

The American assessment, completed in late May, found that American and Iraqi forces were able to 'protect the population' and 'maintain physical influence over' only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods."

Mission accomplished!