Iraq rebels right to fight our troops, says general

General Sir Michael Rose, who led British forces in Bosnia in the 1990s, said he understood the motivation of groups resisting the US presence.

In remarks certain to anger Tony Blair and his defence ministers, he said Britain and America should "admit defeat" and withdraw from Iraq to protect the lives of their soldiers-More than 140 British and more than 3,300 American soldiers have been killed since the invasion.

His words came as Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett flew to Egypt to join two days of talks on the future of Iraq.

Sir Michael, who has written a book comparing the insurgents' tactics with those of George Washington's forces in the American War of Independence, was asked last night on the BBC's Newsnight whether Iraqi militias were "right" to try to drive US forces out of Iraq.

He replied: "Yes, I do. As Lord Chatham said, when he was speaking on the British presence in North America, he said 'if I was an American, as I am an Englishman, as long as one Englishman remained on American native soil, I would never, never, never lay down my arms'.

"The Iraqi insurgents feel exactly the same way. I don't excuse them for some of the terrible things they do, but I do understand why they are resisting the Americans."

The former top soldier, who has previously called for the Prime Minister to be impeached over Iraq, said: "It is the soldiers who have been telling me from the front line that the war they have been fighting is a hopeless war, that they cannot possibly win it and the sooner we start talking politics and not military solutions, the sooner they will come home and their lives will be preserved."

Asked if that meant admitting defeat, he said: "Of course we have to admit defeat. The British admitted defeat in North America and the catastrophes that were predicted at the time never happened. The catastrophes that were predicted after Vietnam never happened. The same thing will occur after we leave Iraq."

Meanwhile, Mrs Beckett joined ministers from more than 60 countries, including Iraq's neighbouring states of Iran and Syria, at a summit that will attempt to contain the conflict as well as other financial, political and technical support.

She said: " We have always recognised that Iraq's neighbours, and other regional states, have a central role in promoting success in Iraq, especially in the pursuit of national reconciliation. That will be the main focus of my discussions with Iraqi ministers and those from neighb o u r i n g states."

The meeting, where US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will sit down with Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, is the most important between American and Iranian officials since President George Bush took office in 2001.