"Dissolving the ministry of defence and ministry of the interior was a big mistake at that time," Yawar told BBC radio.

"We could have screened people out, instead of screening people in, and this could have saved us a lot of hassle and a lot of problems."

Paul Bremer, the former civilian overseer at the head of the US-led occupying authority in Iraq, dissolved the country's defense ministry and disbanded the armed forces on May 23, 2003.

Those moves, Yawar said, contributed to the rise in violence and lawlessness in Iraq.

"I firmly believe that the security situation will not be solved unless we have 100-percent efficient Iraqi forces.... We have to reinstate some of the clean record army officers and police officers," Yawar added, saying he had made the same argument in Washington last week.

The new Iraqi armed forces and police, launched in August of that year, has since been a target of massive insurgent attacks -- killing hundreds -- and is bolstered by massive assistance by US-led multinational forces.

Yawar said the main concern in Iraq was now ensuring people would be able to vote safely. "This is what we are trying to work on right now," he told the

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