Miliband calls for new focus in Iraq

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David Miliband has urged the Iraqi people to now focus on the "bread and butter" of politics.

He told the BBC that since "security had been re-established" in Iraq, the priority must be the economy and public services.

The foreign secretary was on Friday completing a two-day visit to the country, his first since April 2008.

He will be visiting troops in Basra later as they prepare to wind down operations.

The foreign secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that there was a feeling in Iraq that 2008 had been a "critical" year.

"I am in Baghdad, which was a site of enormous amounts of fighting in 2007," he said.

"And now, whether it is our locally engaged staff who live in the city or the leaders of the country, they say that they really have the opportunity to focus on the issues that other countries focus on – the economy, the state of public services, the delivery of utility supply.

"In that sense, politics is moving onto a more normal basis and that is a very, very significant step forward."

He called for the Iraqi people to now focus on "the bread and butter politics" including electricity supply and the economy.

And he claimed that the fact that provincial elections on January 31 had proceeded without incident was a "signal" of the new momentum.

He added: "Every week that goes by, I think, strengthens Iraqi capacity. Every week that goes by strengthens the confidence of the Iraqi people."

Barak Obama is expected to announce that from August 2010 American troops will stop being actively involved in operations in Iraq.

Miliband continued: "This is a country that is rebuilding itself. It has suffered grievously for many years. There is a real yearning here for Iraqis to run their own affairs and to make their own mistakes but also to make their own progress.

"However, it is clear that there is a massive training function to be done on the security side. That is what the Americans are going to focus on after the middle of next year."

But he said that there was an "enduring commitment" by the American troops to make sure that Iraq is a stabilising force in the Middle East.

The government is also facing criticism after defence secretary John Hutton admitted that UK forces transferred two terrorism suspects to the US before they were removed from Iraq.

The admission comes after five years of official denials of British involvement in rendition.

But Miliband defended Britain's role in the country.

"They were captured by British forces and handed over to American forces," he said.

"The Americans sent them to Afghanistan for the lack of linguists to question them. And that's the extent of the British role."

He added: "Large numbers were involved in violence in Iraq at that time. Large numbers of American forces involved and smaller numbers of British forces.

"And the secretary of state for defence, in a very open way, went through all the facts and figures which are available now."