The Commons defence committee has highlighted a "series of mistakes and misjudgements" by the UK and its coalition partners since the end of the Iraq war.

In a damning report the committee says large numbers of UK forces can expect to remain in Iraq until 2006 at the earliest, and it calls on the UN and the EU to expand their presence on the ground.

While they point to "impressive" performance in some areas, the MPs conclude that the government failed to plan adequately for the large-scale reconstruction task and did not give enough priority to reform of the country’s security forces.