SYDNEY, Aug 8: A group of more than 40 former Australian diplomats and defence chiefs accused Prime Minister John Howard in a public statement issued on Sunday of deceiving the country over the reasons for the Iraq war.

The open letter echoed similar statements earlier in the year from retired US and British officials, making Australia the latest of the pro-war allies to face criticism from its own former diplomats.

The statement said the electorate had been misled over the reasons for joining the US-led war in Iraq and democracy could not work properly if people could not trust their elected representatives.

"We are concerned that Australia was committed to join the invasion of Iraq on the basis of false assumptions and deception of the Australian people," the statement said.

"Saddam 's dictatorial regime has ended but removing him was not the reason given to the Australian people for going to war. "The prime minister said in March 2003 that our policy was the disarmament of Iraq not the removal of Saddam Hussein."

It said Australia's involvement had raised the country's profile as a terrorist target. In April a group of former diplomats sent a letter to British Prime Minister Tony Blair savaging "doomed policies" in Iraq and the Middle East.

The letter was echoed by retired US diplomatic and military officials in two separate letters in May and June accusing President George W. Bush of undermining US credibility in the Arab world and calling for him to be voted out over Iraq.

The Australian statement was signed by former defence force chiefs Alan Beaumont and Peter Gration, former defence department secretary Paul Barratt, former prime minister's department secretaries Alan Renouf and Richard Woolcott plus former ambassadors including Rawdon Dalrymple, Stephen Fitzgerald and Ross Garnaut. Gration, Australia's defence chief from 1987 to 1993, said the views were shared by some serving officers. -AFP