Shadow foreign secretary William Hague has urged the UK to rethink British strategy in Iraq, saying that the UK government should be working towards withdrawing its troops from Iraq rather than prolonging their stay in the country.
Hague said that the government should undertake a thorough reassessment in line with a similar process occurring in the United States, according to the Press Association. British troops should be withdrawn "sooner rather than later," he said.
Hague, however, warned that an over-hasty pullout could destabilize the administration in Baghdad and should be avoided.
In the United States, meanwhile, it is believed that a bipartisan commission may advise US President George W. Bush to reconsider his current policy in Iraq and possibly consider involving longtime US foes Syria and Iran in preparation for an eventual exit from the country. The commission's report is set to be released on November 7.
On Saturday, however, Bush insisted that US policy in Iraq was "clear and unchanging: Our goal is victory."
US policy in Iraq shows "arrogance" and "stupidity": US diplomat
Meanwhile, a senior American diplomat told the Al Jazeera network that the US had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq.
"We tried to do our best, but I think there is much room for criticism, because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq," said Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the bureau of Near Eastern affairs at the US State Department.
Coalition forces kill five in Iraq
Early Sunday morning US military forces announced that coalition forces in Iraq had killed five Iraqi fighters and wounded a sixth in an airstrike near the capital according to CNN. The men were believed to have been planting a roadside bomb at the time south of Baghdad, which reportedly prompted the attack.
Troops "observed a group of terrorists digging a hole in a road near Arab Jabour...while one individual stood watch," the statement said. The airstrike "with precision fires" was launched after they witnessed the terrorists placing the bomb into the freshly dug hole, the US military statement maintained.
