rian violence in Iraq but said Britain and the United States had a duty to bring it to an end. "Of course I am devastated by the numbers of people who have died in Iraq, but it's not British and American troops who are killing them," he told BBC television in an interview.
"They are being killed by people who are deliberately using terrorism to try to stop the country getting on its feet. It's not a question of being culpable. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to put the situation right.
"We have absolute responsibility to put things right. What I completely dispute is that the reason Iraq has got the difficulties it has... is simply because of issues to do with planning before the war."
The United Nations said in January that at least 34,452 Iraqis died across the country and another 36,685 were wounded in 2006.
A total of 132 British troops have died since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 while there have been 3,127 U.S. military fatalities in the same period, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures.
Meanwhile, Blair was silent over claims in Sunday's News of the World newspaper that Britain was preparing to cut by half its 7,000-strong contingent in Iraq in May as it hands over the southern province of Basra to the Iraqis.
But another report, in the Independent on Sunday, said British government plans to withdraw 1,000 troops by April would be postponed as the United States sent an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq in a bid to curb the blood-letting.
"Let's just wait and see," he said when asked whether the News of the World report was true.
"As the Iraqis are more capable down in Basra of taking control of their own security, we will scale down.
"But you've got to make sure you have sufficient forces in support and in reserve to be able to help the Iraqis if a particular problem arises."
Blair said Washington was not pressurizing London to maintain its troop levels and recognized that the security situation was different in British-run Basra than in Baghdad.
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