[continued from previous message] 
  
 "It could hardly be otherwise as the failure of strategy becomes so clear. 
  
 "If the Prime Minister accepts that it is a 'disaster', then surely 
 parliament and the British people who were given a flawed prospectus are 
 entitled to an apology," Sir Menzies said. 
  
 Despite tacitly also admitting the situation on the ground was chaotic in 
 his interview with al-Jazeera, Mr Blair insisted Britain would not walk 
 away from Iraq.  He described the ongoing battle as one of moderates 
 versus extremists and sectarians, and said Britain would continue to bat 
 for the majority moderates. 
  
 "We will stay for as long as the government needs us to stay," he said. 
 "And the reason for that is that what is happening in Iraq, as in 
 Afghanistan, as elsewhere in parts of the Middle East, is a struggle 
 between the decent majority of people, who want to live in peace together, 
 and those who have an extreme and perverted and warped view of Islam, who 
 want to create war. 
  
 "In those circumstances, our task has got to be to stand up for the 
 moderates and the democrats against the extremists and the sectarians," he 
 said. 
  
 Mr Blair also played down his recent overtures to Iran and Syria to help 
 calm the situation in Iraq, insisting their engagement would not be "on 
 their terms". 
  
 Any suggestion that establishing greater contacts with Iran and Syria 
 amounted to "appeasement" was "absurd", he said. 
  
 His message to Iran was: "If you reject the way forward that we are 
 setting out, if instead of helping the region you support terrorism, you 
 act in breach of your international obligations, then it is our part to 
 stand up to you. On the other hand, if it is the case that you want to be 
 part of a constructive solution in the Middle East, the door is open to 
 you." 
  
 Mr Blair's appearance on al-Jazeera's new English language network was an 
 image boost for the Qatar-based network, which was once denounced as 
 propaganda by the former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and is 
 perhaps best known in the UK for broadcasting tapes from Osama bin Laden 
 and al-Qaeda. 
  
 HODGE SLAMS PM'S 'BIG MISTAKE' 
  
 TONY Blair has apparently been savaged by a key government ally over his 
 decision to invade Iraq. 
  
 Margaret Hodge, the industry minister and a key figure in the New Labour 
 establishment, was said to have told party activists at a closed meeting 
 that the decision to go to war was the Prime Minister's "big mistake in 
 foreign affairs". 
  
 While Mrs Hodge's comments were remarkably frank for a serving minister, 
 what surprised Labour MPs even more yesterday was Tony Blair's failure to 
 sack or even discipline her. 
  
 A Downing Street spokesman yesterday said that Mr Blair still has full 
 confidence in Mrs Hodge, indicating that there is no intention to dismiss 
 her. 
  
  
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