Coalition making a difference in Iraq: top British officer

LONDON (AFP) - Multi-national troops in Iraq are "making a difference" towards building a secure and successful country despite the enormous challenges, Britain's top military officer there said Friday.

"This is difficult, it is damned dangerous, but I have no question in my mind that we are making a difference," Lieutenant General Graham Lamb, deputy commander of the multi-national force, told BBC radio from Baghdad.

He denied the US-led troops were engaged in a lost cause.

"Are we moving towards a better life for Iraq and an opportunity for this nation to succeed? I believe so and have never doubted that," Lamb said.

The Iraqi authorities "are now actively engaged in a way that senses we are in the point of transition," he added.