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Sir Richard has criticised Labour's record in the past
A former head of the Army has accused Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of letting down UK troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen Sir Richard Dannatt criticised Mr Brown for inadequate funding and said Mr Blair lacked the "moral courage" to make his chancellor deliver money.
Sir Richard made the claims in his book, Leading From the Front, which is serialised in the Sunday Telegraph.
Ex-Labour minister Ed Balls said the comments were "highly charged" and made by a man who had advised the Tories.
Sir Richard sparked a row when he acted as a defence adviser to the Conservatives after stepping down from the armed forces.
But last month the former Army chief revealed he had quit the role when David Cameron became prime minister.
'Abject failure'
Sir Richard said he had given up the post to ensure military advice came from chiefs of staff, not a "has-been".
He has made a series of public criticisms of Labour's record on defence since standing down as Chief of the General Staff in 2009.
In his book, Sir Richard said evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction - the justification for Britain's involvement in the 2003 invasion of the country - was "most uncompelling" and the planning for the aftermath of war an "abject failure".
And while the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) provided a "good framework" for defence policy in the Labour years, he said it was "fatally flawed" by being underfunded by Mr Brown's Treasury and could not cope with the strains of deploying troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time.
Criticising the two politicians at the head of the Labour administration, he wrote: "History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course, but in my view Gordon Brown's malign intervention, when chancellor, on the SDR by refusing to fund what his own government had agreed, fatally flawed the entire process from the outset.
"The seeds were sown for some of the impossible operational pressures to come."
'Crack the whip'
And he accused Mr Blair of lacking the "moral courage to impose his will on his own chancellor".
"Every organisation has its tone set by its leadership," he wrote.
"To me it seems extraordinary that the prime minister, the number one guy, cannot crack the whip sufficiently to his very close friend, the chancellor, and say 'We're doing this in the national interest, Gordon, you fund it'."
However, Mr Balls, a Labour leadership contender, said: "I wish he [Sir Richard] would not talk in such a political way.
"In the 10 years after 1997, defence spending in Britain, I think, went up by 11% after inflation."
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Sir Richard has criticised Labour's record in the past A former head of the Army has accused Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of letting down UK troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen Sir Richard Dannatt criticised Mr Brown for inadequate funding and said Mr Blair lacked the "moral courage" to make his chancellor deliver money.
Sir Richard made the claims in his book, Leading From the Front, which is serialised in the Sunday Telegraph.
Ex-Labour minister Ed Balls said the comments were "highly charged" and made by a man who had advised the Tories.
Sir Richard sparked a row when he acted as a defence adviser to the Conservatives after stepping down from the armed forces.
But last month the former Army chief revealed he had quit the role when David Cameron became prime minister.
'Abject failure'
Sir Richard said he had given up the post to ensure military advice came from chiefs of staff, not a "has-been".
He has made a series of public criticisms of Labour's record on defence since standing down as Chief of the General Staff in 2009.
“History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course”
Gen Sir Richard Dannatt And while the 1998 Strategic Defence Review (SDR) provided a "good framework" for defence policy in the Labour years, he said it was "fatally flawed" by being underfunded by Mr Brown's Treasury and could not cope with the strains of deploying troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time.
Criticising the two politicians at the head of the Labour administration, he wrote: "History will pass judgment on these foreign adventures in due course, but in my view Gordon Brown's malign intervention, when chancellor, on the SDR by refusing to fund what his own government had agreed, fatally flawed the entire process from the outset.
"The seeds were sown for some of the impossible operational pressures to come."
'Crack the whip'
And he accused Mr Blair of lacking the "moral courage to impose his will on his own chancellor".
"Every organisation has its tone set by its leadership," he wrote.
"To me it seems extraordinary that the prime minister, the number one guy, cannot crack the whip sufficiently to his very close friend, the chancellor, and say 'We're doing this in the national interest, Gordon, you fund it'."
However, Mr Balls, a Labour leadership contender, said: "I wish he [Sir Richard] would not talk in such a political way.
"In the 10 years after 1997, defence spending in Britain, I think, went up by 11% after inflation."
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.