Have faith, Blair says on Baghdad TV

tony Blair today urged Iraqis to "have faith" - but was told by an Arab TV interviewer that the country was "in the middle of Hell".

Mr Blair told Iraqiya TV, in an interview to be broadcast in Baghdad tonight, that conditions would improve. However his interviewer interrupted: "Mr Prime Minister, Iraqi people are living in the middle of hell. There are no public services, no security."

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

He said his message to the people of Iraq was: "Have confidence and faith because you will succeed."

Mr Blair added that US and British troops would stay in Iraq only as long as the new government wanted them to.

He said the number of British troops under Nato command in the country would double from 300 to 600.