British troops will stay

2005-09-25 15:59

Brighton - Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday he hadn't expected the ferocity of the insurgency in Iraq but insisted British troops would stay as long as the Iraqi government needed them.

As his governing Labour Party gathered for its annual conference, Blair said he hadn't set a deadline to withdraw some 8 500 British soldiers from Iraq. "There is no arbitrary date being set," he said, in an interview with the BBC.

Blair also insisted two British soldiers who were rescued from an Iraqi jail last week would not be handed over to Iraqi authorities.

The two soldiers, operating undercover, were arrested on Monday after allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen who tried to detain them. A British armored patrol surrounded the jail in Basra, southern Iraq where the two were held, and crashed through the prison walls to rescue them. The British patrol came under attack by angry locals who hurled Molotov cocktails and stoned soldiers as they fled from their burning vehicle.

"We will do whatever is necessary to protect our troops in any situation," Blair said. Asked if Britain would accept arrest warrants for the soldiers, Blair responded: "No, absolutely not."

Images of the British soldiers jumping from armored vehicles with their clothes on fire has thrust Iraq back into the media spotlight and reignited criticism of the way Blair has handled the conflict.

The opposition Liberal Democrats have stepped up demands for British troops to withdraw _ a call backed by some left wingers in Blair's own party.

Blair was asked whether he had expected it to be so difficult to restore order to Iraq following the US-led invasion.

"No, I didn't expect quite the same sort of ferocity from every single element in the Middle East that came in and is doing their best to disrupt the political process," he said, referring to insurgents who have flooded into Iraq from neighboring countries such as Syria and Iran. "But I have absolutely no doubt as to what we should do. There is no doubt in my mind that what is happening in Iraq now is crucial for the future of our own security," he added.

- AP