Blair made his remarks to BBC television before the start of the annual conference of his Labour Party which was set once more to be riven by debate over Britain's decision to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Asked if he had expected Iraq to be so hard, Blair replied: "No. I didn't expect quite the same sort of ferocity from every single element in the Middle East that came in and was doing their best to disrupt the political process."

Blair said it was crucial for not just stability in the Middle East but for world security for the multinational forces to defeat "this type of global terrorism and insurgency in Iraq."

The prime minister said the 8,500 British troops currently deployed in Iraq would withdraw once Iraqi forces can ensure security on their own and once United Nations-mandated efforts for democratic institutions take root.

"What we do depends on the job being done. There is no arbitrary date being set," Blair said.

The Observer newspaper reported Sunday that Britain and the United States would present a blueprint to the Iraqi parliament next month for British troops to begin withdrawing from May next year.

Blair said he had "not heard that" but added the US-led coalition and Iraqi government have long discussed plans for Iraqi forces to take over security tasks from the multinational forces.

The Sunday Telegraph offered an alternative version, saying it has learned that the Ministry of Defense "is still planning to deploy large numbers of troops" until at least January 2008.

British Defense Secretary John Reid, interviewed by the Sky News channel, repeated previous remarks that British troops could start handing over to Iraqi forces sometime next year.

"I don't think that anybody has ever suggested our troops will be out of Iraq by next May," Reid told Sky. "What I have said is in the course of next year there could be the start of the process of the handover to the Iraqis."

A YouGov opinion poll for Five News television, released Sunday after several thousand people joined an anti-war march in London, found that 57 percent of respondents thought British forces should pull out.

Debate over Britain's presence in Iraq intensified last week after Iraqi police arrested two undercover British soldiers and reportedly handed them over to a Shiite militia, prompting fears in London of collusion.

The Iraqi authorities were enraged meanwhile that British troops smashed down a police station wall in the search for the pair, who were later rescued from a house in Basra.

An Iraqi judge has since issued an arrest warrant for the two British soldiers in connection with the deaths of several Iraqis in a confrontation with British forces.

However, Reid insisted the warrant had no legal basis and defended the actions of the British army in freeing the men.

The Labour Party's annual conference follows its re-election in May for a third consecutive time, albeit with a narrower parliamentary majority, as some voters deserted the party in opposition to the war in Iraq.

Michael Howard, the leader of the main opposition Conservative Party which backed the Iraq invasion, told BBC radio that the Blair government had to set out an "honest and open account" of the difficulties it was now facing in Iraq.

related report
British forces to exit Iraq from May, London newspaper claims
London, Sept 25 (AFP) - British troops will start leaving Iraq next May under detailed plans, drawn up by London and Washington, to be presented next month to the Iraqi parliament, the Observer newspaper reported Sunday.

Quoting senior military sources, it said the blueprint "will lay out a point-by-point 'road map' for military disengagement by multinational forces," with the first steps possibly going into effect soon after the December polls.

It said Britain has already "privately" informed Japan of its plans to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq in May next, a move that would make it impossible for some 500 Japanese troops in the sector to remain.

There was no immediate reaction from Prime Minister Tony Blair's government to the report, which appeared in time for the start of the annual conference of his Labour Party in Brighton, on England's south coast.

Speculation about the future of British forces in Iraq intensified this week after the arrest by Iraqi police of two undercover British soldiers who were subsequently rescued by comrades in the main southern city of Basra.

A YouGov opinion poll for Five News television, released Sunday after several thousand people joined an anti-war march in London, found that 57 percent of respondents thought British forces should pull out.

The Observer quoted Defence Secretary John Reid as saying in an interview that a pullout strategy was contingent on ongoing efforts to establish a permanent democratic government in Iraq.

"The two things I want to insist about the timetable is that it is not an event, but a process, and that it will be a process that takes place at different speeds in different parts of the country," he said.

"I have said before that I believe that it could begin in some parts of the country as early as next July. It is not a deadline, but it is where we might be, and I honestly still believe we could have the conditions to begin a handover."

The Sunday Telegraph offered an alternative version, saying it has learned that the Ministry of Defence "is still planning to deploy large numbers of troops" until at least January 2008.

The Sunday Times said the two soldiers caught up in the Basra incident, members of the SAS special operations unit, were part of an operation to stop Iraqi insurgents from smuggling bombs into the country from neighboring Iran.

It said the pair, who had been in Basra for seven weeks, had left their base near the city to carry out reconnaissance and supply a second patrol with "more tools and firepower".

"Since the increase in attacks against UK forces two months ago, a 24-strong SAS team has been working out of Basra to provide a safety net to stop the bombers getting in the city from Iran," a source was quoted as saying.

"The aim is to identify routes used by insurgents and either capture or kill them."

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