Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Sunday British troops would stay in Iraq “until the job is done” and pledged to support the country’s weak government as it battles sectarian violence and a raging Sunni Arab insurgency.

Just before Blair landed in Baghdad for an unannounced visit, gunmen in police uniforms carried out a mass kidnapping at a Red Crescent office in the capital,highlighting Iraq’s security challenges. Police said 10 to 20 people were seized but Red Crescent officials said more were snatched.
Blair said he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had discussed the need for national reconciliation and building up Iraq’s security forces to fight soaring Shi’ite-Sunni sectarian violence that has pushed the country close to all-out civil war.

“We stand ready to support you in every way that we can so that in time the Iraq government and the Iraqi people can take full responsibility for their affairs,” Blair, who is touring the Middle East, told a news conference.

The visit by Blair, Washington’s closest ally, comes as U.S. President George W. Bush is rethinking his Iraq strategy following the defeat of his Republicans in mid-term elections and in the face of mounting U.S. military casualties.

Blair defended London’s plans for a gradual withdrawal of its 7,200 troops in the south, mostly in and around oil-rich Basra, as Iraq’s fledgling security forces take over.

“This isn’t a change of our policy,” he said. “Don’t be under any doubt at all. British troops will remain until the job is done.”

Britain has transferred authority to Iraqis in two of the four southern provinces it took responsibility for after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. It has said it is confident it can hand over Basra to the Iraqis early next year and hopes to have brought thousands of troops home by the end of 2007.

“SADDAMISTS AND TERRORISTS”

Blair, on his sixth visit to Iraq since the 2003 invasion and with his legacy tarnished by Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad the bloodshed was being carried out by “Saddamists and terrorists” and appealed to Iraq’s neighbours for help.

He later told British troops in Basra the conflict was now “about different groups of the local population fighting each other.” Washington and London say Iraq is not in a civil war but other leaders, including former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, say Iraq is in a civil war.

Those snatched in the mass kidnapping in central Baghdad included Red Crescent employees, visitors and guards. Witnesses said gunmen arrived in pickup trucks. “They took all the men, separated them from the women and left,” a witness told Reuters.

“We call for their immediate and unconditional release,” said Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva.

She said at least 25 people had been taken by gunmen from among staff and visitors. ICRC carries out much of its work in Iraq through the Red Crescent. No ICRC personnel were snatched.

The Iraqi Red Crescent, the only Iraqi aid agency working in Iraq’s 18 provinces, has 1,000 staff and 200,000 volunteers.

Baghdad is plagued by daily kidnappings, many of which are carried out by armed groups on either side of the conflict between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunni Arabs.

Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government is under pressure from Washington to do more to stem daily violence that U.N. officials estimate kills more than 100 people a day. The violence has complicated U.S. and British plans to withdraw their troops.

The U.S. military plans to speed up the training of Iraq’s army by tripling its number of embedded trainers to about 9,000, while keeping a close eye on units’ sectarian loyalties, U.S. Brigadier General Dana Pittard said on Sunday.

The violence in Iraq since the invasion has marred Blair’s final years in office, dividing the British public and his party, hurting his popularity ratings and reducing Britain’s credibility in the region, analysts say.

Source: Reuters