BAGHDAD, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Britain's defense minister has ruled out any change of his country's course in Iraq despite the growing insurgency there, the Telegraph reports.
John Reid says British troops would remain in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wants them.
"We do not have designs to stay there as an occupying imperial power," he said. "Nor are we going to cut and run because of terrorists.
British troops control southern Iraq but the area is becoming increasingly dangerous as local political parties jockey for support, the report said. In Britain, lawmakers fear the troops could get caught up in a full-blown civil war.
Reid and other officials were to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in London to discuss security issues.
Discussing next month's referendum on Iraq's new constitution, Reid said, "A tragic fact is that the better we do in politics the worse it will become with the ferocity of the terrorists."
