LONDON, Oct 18: Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted on Wednesday that Britain would keep its troops in Iraq as long as necessary — but admitted that they risk becoming a ‘provocation’ in the war-scarred country over time.

His comment seemed to echo a remark by Britain’s armed forces chief which sparked a storm last week, when he said that Britain’s forces in Iraq were ‘exacerbating’ the situation.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Blair said that to withdraw from Iraq ‘prematurely before the job is done’ would be ‘disastrous’.

But he said: “It is our policy to withdraw progressively from Iraq as the Iraqi forces are capable of taking on the security task.

“That is why it is important, when we are able to hand over to them that we do so, otherwise of course we are a provocation rather than a help to them,” Mr Blair added.

He was responding to a storm triggered last week by his army chief, General Sir Richard Dannatt, who said Britain’s troop presence was ‘exacerbating’ security problems and that they should withdraw “sometime soon.”—AFP