Richard Woolcott, a retired foreign affairs chief who advised eight prime ministers, calls the Iraq war a 'catastrophic blunder':
"The Iraq war has been a disaster and has substantially increased the terrorist threat Mr Howard said it would reduce," he said.
"The aim of foreign and defence policy is to make Australia secure - ironically some of our policies have placed Australians at greater risk."
Mr Woolcott called on the government to come up with an exit strategy.
"The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, having made such a catastrophic foreign and security policy blunder, are now trapped in a dilemma of their own making," he said.
