Standing firm: Blair

As the US is warned that 10,000 more soldiers are needed in Iraq Tony Blair has insisted that UK troops will remain in Iraq until their job is done.

Following an intensification of insurgent violence and a mounting death toll the prime minister is sending out a defiant message.

His comments came as defence secretary Geoff Hoon described the increase in violence as "disturbing".

Whilst he failed to rule out sending further troops to Iraq, Hoon said large areas of the country were living in relative peace.

Blair - defiant

Writing in the Observer newspaper Blair said a defeat in Iraq would have global consequences.

 "We are locked in a historic struggle in Iraq. On its outcome hangs more than the fate of the Iraqi people. Were we to fail, which we will not, it is more than 'the power of America' that would be defeated. The hope of freedom and religious tolerance in Iraq would be snuffed out," said the prime minister.

"Dictators would rejoice; fanatics and terrorists would be triumphant. Every nascent strand of moderate Arab opinion, knowing full well that the future should not belong to fundamentalist religion, would be set back in bitter disappointment."

Blair said achieving peace and democracy in Iraq would transform the politics of the Middle East.

"If we succeed - if Iraq becomes a sovereign state, governed democratically by the Iraqi people... imagine the blow dealt to the poisonous propaganda of the extremists. Imagine the propulsion toward change it would inaugurate all over the Middle East."

Fanatics

And he has vowed to defeat the "fanatics preaching their gospel of hate"

"The terrorists prey on ethnic or religious discord. From Kashmir to Chechnya, to Palestine and Israel, they foment hatred, they deter reconciliation.

"In Europe, they conducted the massacre in Madrid. They threaten France. They forced the cancellation of the president of Germany's visit to Djibouti. They have been foiled in Britain, but only for now," he warned.

A victory for the terrorists in Iraq or elsewhere "would defeat civilisation and democracy everywhere", Blair insisted.

And the prime minister denied that the security situation in Iraq was now heading out of control.

"The current upsurge in violence has not spread throughout Iraq. Much of Iraq is unaffected and most Iraqis reject it" he said.

"The insurgents are former Saddam sympathisers, angry that their status as 'boss' has been removed, terrorist groups linked to al Qaeda and, most recently, followers of the Shia cleric, Muqtada-al-Sadr."

Despite his unbending stance, the prime minister is facing growing pressure at home.

Recall demands

Ahead of the prime minister's trip to the US next week, Blair has this weekend faced backbench demands for a recall of parliament.

Tam Dalyell, father of the House, and Alice Mahon, MP for Halifax, have called for MPs to return to debate the situation.

"It is an absolutely crucial week that lies ahead, and parliament should be sitting," he said.

"The pictures on TV, the hostage situation and other developments are now so dire, not least for British troops, that the House of Commons ought to have a say before the prime minister goes off to Washington next week."