BRITAIN: Ahead of his talks with President Bush in Washington on Friday, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said he would not to flinch in the "historic struggle" in Iraq, warning failure would be a defeat for civilisation.
Mr Blair said Iraq would be at the mercy of warring factions if the coalition "cut and run".
And he insisted the effects of failure would be felt across the world.
His Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, meanwhile conceded the upsurge in violence and hostage-taking was a "disturbing development".
But he insisted Britain and the US would not be intimidated by the kidnappers.
Writing in the Observer newspaper, Mr Blair said Britain and the US were locked in a battle they had to win.
The hope of freedom and religious tolerance would be "snuffed out" if the coalition failed in Iraq.
He insisted Iraq was not descending into civil war, dismissing insurgents as supporters of Saddam Hussein, al-Qaeda-backed terrorists and followers of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
And he said a "significant part" of western opinion against the war was now sitting back "half hoping we fail".
Mr Blair said if coalition forces did fail "dictators would rejoice, fanatics and terrorists would be triumphant".
He said victory for the insurgents would do far more than defeat America or Britain.
"It would defeat civilisation and democracy everywhere," he said. He said much of Iraq was unaffected by the recent violence and many Iraqi people rejected the uprisings which saw coalition forces lose control of a number of cities.
He said the greatest threat was from complacency.
"There is a battle we have to fight, a struggle we have to win and it is happening now in Iraq," he said.
Mr Hoon said the coalition would not be swayed by the "fanatics" and "men of violence" who had taken hostages in Iraq.
He also said he saw no reason to delay the hand over of power to Iraq - due to happen on June 30th, despite spiralling violence.
And he admitted there was no pull-out in sight for British troops, insisting they would stay in Iraq for as long as was necessary. But there was no need to send more troops out, he said.
Mr Hoon told Sky News: "We have got to work towards the safety and security of those people. We want to ensure they are free.
"At the same time we will not be intimidated by the extremists, by the fanatics, by the men of violence. It is important that we go on working to rebuild Iraq."
He added: "We can't simply hand over the country to the very people who are trying to undermine all that Iraqis themselves want."
He said he saw "no reason at this stage" to delay the hand over date. But it was vital to deal with the threats to security in the run-up to June 30th. - (PA)