http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040410/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_britain_hurd&cid=1514&ncid=1480LONDON (AFP) - Former British foreign secretary Douglas Hurd blasted Washington's policy in Iraq (news - web sites) saying the United States was mistaken in believing it could impose democracy in the war-shattered country through the use of force.
"You really don't win hearts and minds by filling hospitals and mortuaries," said Hurd, who was foreign secretary between 1979 and 1983 in the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
Hurd was referring to the recent fighting in Iraq between US forces and hardline Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has left hundreds of Iraqis dead and hundreds more wounded.
"The idea that you could actually not just get rid of a tyrant but then impose democracy by the means we have been using is, I think, contradicted by most people who have any knowledge of the area," Hurd told BBC radio on Saturday.
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