"Decisions have consequences and some of the approaches which were taken by some of our continental colleagues were simply inexplicable to most people in the US," Straw told the BBC.

"I haven't blamed France for military action," the foreign secretary said.

"I did however criticise France for what I thought was a lack of constructive approach to the implementation of the resolution 1441," he said.

Straw said if France and Russia had joined in discussions at the Security Council for a "really tough ultimatum" to Saddam Hussein "then I think the war may have been avoided."

"My criticism of my colleagues in France and elsewhere in Europe ... is that they all willed the end, which was the disarmament of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and his compliance with the UN, but they failed to will the means," he said.

SPACE.WIRE