Britain must "hold nerve" in Iraq, says UK's Beckett

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) Britain must hold its nerve in Iraq, Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett said today, while US-British strategy there is increasingly questioned on both sides of the Atlantic.

Beckett said her talks with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih in London later today would be a chance to ''take stock of what's working and what's not.'' Several diplomats and military leaders have come forward in recent weeks to publicly debate strategy in Iraq. A senior US diplomat said yesterday in an interview on Al Jazeera that the United States had shown ''arrogance'' and ''stupidity''.

''We need to keep our nerve. We need to get Iraq back on its feet. We need to establish greater stability,'' Beckett said.

''We want a decent government that serves the Iraqi people.

The Iraqi government is making progress -- it's got a tough job and we need to support it,'' a spokesman quoted her as saying.

''We want to look at better ways in which we can achieve our goals in Iraq,'' she said.

The chief of Britain's army, General Richard Dannatt, said this month that British troops should withdraw from Iraq soon as their presence was worsening the security situation there and in the wider world.

US President George W Bush, whose Republicans are battling to retain control of the US Congress in next month's election, said on Saturday he would make ''every necessary change'' in tactics to try to control the violence in Iraq.

UK IN POSITION TO BENEFIT Diplomatic sources suggest Britain could benefit from the debate in Washington over Iraq. The Americans are trying to find a much more bipartisan policy, the sources said, and that may give British voices more influence.

Former US Secretary of State James Baker is researching ideas for a possible change of course in Iraq, but his plan will not be unveiled until weeks after the Nov 7 elections.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has vowed to stand firm on British policy of withdrawing progressively from Iraq as local security forces take over from British troops.

Asked whether Beckett would discuss any of Baker's suggestions with Salih, a Foreign Office spokesman said it would be premature to comment. But he said Britain considered Iran and Syria could have more of a role to play.

''We've got to see the agreed conclusions -- any comment on (Baker's) Iraq Study Report is speculative,'' the spokesman said.

''Of course we talk to Iran and Syria ... but there are limits to that engagement. We've always said we want Iraq to engage with its neighbours and we want Syria and Iran to play a more constructive role.'' Diplomatic sources said Britain is unlikely to announce any dramatic change in policy on Iraq, but say in coming weeks it will be encouraging the United States to deal with Iran.

It will encourage Iran and Syria to get involved -- while making clear that they must not support terrorism in the region.

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