Ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short has sparked controversy by comparing Palestinian suicide bombers to "French freedom fighters".

Fringe events at the Labour Party conference got underway on Sunday with Short speaking at a Fabian Society meeting.

The former international development secretary repeated her accusation that the prime minister had personally "lied to" and deceived her over the reconstruction of the country after the war.

Tony Blair had given his commitment to join the American invasion "too early" she added

"Iraq had nothing to do with September 11," she said.

"I was never against dealing with Saddam. But we should have said 'if it is done right, we are with you'.

"'But if it is done wrong you are on your own'. Tony said 'we are with you' all along."Speaking at a meeting on the United Nations after Iraq, the Birmingham MP said UN weapons inspections under Dr Hans Blix were cut short to suit a predetermined US military timetable.

"We should have let Blix go on," she argued. "As [Downing Street chief of staff] Jonathon Powell has confirmed there was no imminent threat."

However she saved her most controversial comments to a question and answer session in which she dismissed neo-conservatives who brand all acts of political violence as "terrorism".

"Not all violence is terrorism," she claimed. "The French resistance in the second world war were 'freedom fighters'."

"If people feel oppressed and powerless they will react."

Speaking at the same event, Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell said he could "not reconcile" Short's beliefs with the fact that she stayed in the Cabinet throughout the Iraqi conflict.