By Steve Bargeton, political editor

FIRST MINISTER Alex Salmond was last night accused of “undermining the morale” of troops serving on the front line as a bitter war of words raged on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

In a television interview Mr Salmond said, “I do not believe that the views of our Scots squaddies are any different from the Scottish population.

“They do their job bravely but they are kicked when they are in Iraq in the teeth by their regiments being wound up and treated disgracefully by the Government.

“Their view on the rights and wrongs of the conflict are similar to the rest of us.”

David Hamilton, the Labour MP for Midlothian and member of the defence select committee, called on Mr Salmond to withdraw his comments.

“Alex Salmond’s remarks will undermine the morale of front line troops and he should withdraw his comments,” he said.

Defence Secretary Des Browne, who has visited UK troops in Iraq and Afghanistan on many occasions, said the First Minister’s comments as “simply nonsense.”

“On every occasion I have been in Iraq I have met Scottish soldiers across the ranks and they are all extremely proud of the work they have done in liberating Iraq from tyranny, training Iraqi forces and providing the Iraqi people with security from some of the most vicious terrorists in the world,” he said.

“It is revealing that, to my knowledge, no SNP MPs or MSPs have been out to visit our troops.

“No doubt they fear having to explain to ordinary Iraqis why, five years on, the SNP still regret the toppling of the tyrant who oppressed them.”

Mr Salmond claimed it was the Defence Secretary who should be apologising.

“He should apologise to every service family for breaking the military covenant by scrapping the historic Scottish regiments.”

And he claimed, “I speak to past and present service personnel all the time, and I receive complaints from service families about the treatment of their loved ones in Iraq in terms of equipment and provision.

“Our servicemen and women are doing the job they were ordered to do with extraordinary professionalism and courage, and we all support them.

“They fight for each other and for their regiment.

“The issue is why they were sent into danger in the first place.

“It is nonsense to imagine that these brave men and women—who come from all the communities of Scotland —differ in their views from their friends, families and the population at large about the fact that Tony Blair took the country into an unlawful war on bogus information.”

Mr Salmond received backing from Reinstate Our Army Regiments Campaign manager Jeff Duncan.

“If there was a vote of confidence and respect among our brave forces men and women between Alex Salmond and Des Browne, the First Minister would win by a landslide,” he claimed.

“Des Browne should be hanging his head in shame for the way he and the UK Government have treated Scotland’s service personnel.”

Last night Scottish Tory leader Murdo Fraser warned that Mr Salmond was playing “a dangerous game.”

“This is an unnecessary and unwanted intervention by Alex Salmond, seeking to politicise our armed forces for narrow political ends,” he said.

“He is playing a dangerous game in potentially undermining the morale of front line troops, who daily put their lives on the line.

“I cannot imagine the families of those serving in Iraq welcome these destabilising comments.

“This is not the action of statesman or a responsible politician.

“Whatever their views might be, soldiers are professionals, which is more than we can say for our First Minister when he starts talking like this.”