Blair 'did not grasp risk to troops'

Tony Blair sent British troops to Iraq's "triangle of death" without fully understanding the risks, senior Black Watch officers declared today.

US Marines leaving the area south of Baghdad have suffered nearly 200 casualties and nine deaths since July, military sources revealed.

A Black Watch officer said in an email home: "We expect every lunatic terrorist from miles around to descend on us like bees to honey.

"I hope the Government knows what it has got itself into. I am not sure it fully understands the risks."

Another officer wrote in an email: "The marines we have taken over from have taken nine dead and 197 wounded since July. Hope we do better."

The emails came as a new study in The Lancet estimated 100,000 civilians had died since the conflict began.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman today refused to comment on the Black Watch emails, but stressed the deployment decision was taken on "operational grounds".

He added that the 100,000 death toll figure could not be trusted because it was based on an extrapolation.