Troops working to restore order: Straw

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said British and American troops were doing everything they could to restore order in Iraq.

Mr Straw said the looting and disorder that had broken out in Baghdad and other cities was understandable because the Iraqi people were breaking free from terror.

He insisted that, despite the chaos, there were sufficient British troops in the Gulf to continue the campaign, following a decision to scale back forces.

Following talks with the Japanese foreign minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, in London, Mr Straw said the outbreak of disorder was "greatly to be regretted".

He added: "The UK and US forces in their own theatres are doing everything they can to work as hard as possible to restore order.

"It has to be borne in mind, and this is not to condone the disorder but to explain it, that wherever totalitarian regimes have collapsed, there is always, always a period of some disorder which follows.

"And there is a reason for that. In this country, in Japan, people are orderly because their sense of order goes with their sense of freedom, something which we carry within us, and policing is done by consent and with a very light touch.

"In countries like Iraq, where there has been no consent, no freedom for the individual and what order has been there has been gossamer thin and imposed not by consent but by terror, the moment that terror is removed, of course, sometimes disorder breaks out."

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