A RILED-UP Taoiseach Brian Cowen has tried to deflect severe criticism at his Government’s decision to curtail the scope of the banking inquiry.

BRITISH troops should be withdrawn from Iraq once Iraqi forces have been trained, regardless of the security situation, the co-chairman of a commission looking into the policy said yesterday.

Syria and Iran are willing to help try to stabilise Iraq but they will want something in return and neither has a magic solution to the country’s bloodshed, Mideast officials and analysts said today after a US commission recommended such outreach.