Defence secretary John Hutton has warned that British troops could be involved in Afghanistan "for years".

But in an interview with the Times he defended the decision to oust Saddam from Iraq. He said the Middle Eastern country's leadership was no longer a threat to its people or its neighbours and denied that the invasion had made Britain more vulnerable to attack.

He added that the UK's decision to invade Iraq was a defining moment for New Labour and that he would have acted to remove a dictator from power even if he had known that there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Hutton told the newspaper: "At the end of the day you couldn’t do business with Saddam. I celebrate the end of one of the most murderous, fascist dictators in the world."

The defence secretary stressed that Britain's national security would be more directly impacted by the situation in Afghanistan.

Speaking about Afghanistan, he said: "The argument is very clear. This is where our national security is determined. We must tackle the threat at source, it's not just going to go away. It is a struggle against fanatics that may not challenge our borders but challenges our way of life in the same way the Nazis did."

He added: "We will stay there as long as is necessary to secure all our objectives. It's going to be years."

The defence secretary stated that besides fighting al-Qaida and the Taliban, greater efforts were needed on the political front, including talks with former supporters of the Taliban, in order to boost security in the country.

Prime minister Gordon Brown said earlier this week that all British troops in Iraq would be pulled out by mid-2009.


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