Following the transfer of sovereignty to an interim government, the prime minister has urged Iraqis to "have confidence and faith" in their future.

With former dictator Saddam Hussein and other detainees set to be transferred to Iraqi custody on Wednesday, events are moving quickly in a bid to create an impression of momentum.

And Tony Blair has promised the people of Iraq that they will "make it" through the challenges of terrorism and reconstruction.

The prime minister gave an interview to Iraqiya TV on Tuesday from Istanbul, where he was attending a NATO summit.

Following the transfer of power to the new Iraqi government on Monday, he told Iraqis that they should not be angry at the US or Britain for creating the vacuum in which the insurgents are operating.

"The enemy is not the people trying to help make the country better, the enemy are the terrorists," Blair said.

"What we have transferred to Iraq, and this is now guaranteed in a UN resolution, is absolute and full sovereignty.

"It's for the Iraqis and the Iraq government to decide what they want by way of help from us - because you will need help and support to build up your own security forces.

"We can only stay in Iraq insofar as you wish us to stay. If you don't wish us to stay, we have no right to be there. The best guarantee of security for Iraq is Iraqi forces but we can help in that process."

The prime minister also revealed that he wants to visit Baghdad in the future.

"I would certainly like to. Quite when, I can't say. Of course I would like to do that and I would like people in Iraq knowing they have got a friend in my country who wants to see them a stable democracy," he said.

And asked what his message to the population was, Blair replied: "I would say, have confidence and faith because you will succeed. These terrorists represent the worst of everything that's bad about the world.

"You needn't fear for the future. You will make it because we will help you make it."

Mistakes

Meanwhile, speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, the foreign secretary admitted that mistakes had been made in the run-up to the transfer of power.

But he insisted that the situation on the ground was now improving.

With elections due to take place by next January, the foreign secretary said this would prove an "important milestone".

"The violence will continue for some time but it is my belief, and more importantly the Iraqis' belief, that they will be able to get through this period and establish a democratic Iraq," he told Radio 4's Today programme.

"I think we will see a very different situation in Iraq during the latter part of next year."

Straw was speaking a day after the surprise transfer of sovereignty, which took place 48 hours earlier than expected.

Paul Bremer, the US administrator, left the country on Monday shortly after handing over to interim prime minister Iyad Allawi.

Since major combat operations ended, casualties have continued to mount and Straw admitted the security situation had been a cause for concern.

He conceded that the coalition had been too keen to weed out former members of Saddam's Baath Party from official jobs.

"Of course, in this transition some mistakes have been made and probably the de-Baathication went too far," he admitted.

"On the other hand, not only the coalition forces but above all the Iraqis had to be assured that the people who were reappearing as police officers and still more as members of the armed forces were not Saddamists, former regime elements, in new uniforms."