Bronco_Beerslug
11-18-2006, 02:23 PM
And also today Ali al-Adhadh of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was assassinated (http://tinyurl.com/t4oa5). Iraq is now in a raging civil war and this is the last place American troops need to be.
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Blair admits Iraq 'disaster'
George Jones, London
November 19, 2006
IN A significant concession to critics of the war in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has acknowledged that the invasion of the country by the United States and Britain has been a "disaster".
His frankest assessment yet, that the country could descend into civil war, came on Friday as Margaret Hodge, a long-standing political ally, reportedly described the conflict as Mr Blair's "big mistake in foreign affairs".
At a private meeting in London, the Industry Minister is also said to have accused him of "moral imperialism".
Interviewed on al-Jazeera television's new English-language channel, Mr Blair was challenged by David Frost over the daily murders, bombings and kidnappings in Iraq. Frost said the West's military intervention in Iraq had "so far been pretty much of a disaster".
Mr Blair responded: "It has, (but) what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It is not difficult because of some accident in planning. It is difficult because there is a deliberate strategy: al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with (Shiite) militias on the other, to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war."
Mr Blair admitted that the insurgents, who killed four British troops near Basra lastSunday, were testing Britain's will but insisted forces would stay for as long as the Iraqi Government needed them.
Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel has angered London and Washington by broadcasting tapes from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and showing dead soldiers.
Mr Blair used the interview to renew his appeal to Iran and Syria to co-operate in ending the violence and to secure a settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He rejected as "completely absurd" any suggestion that his readiness to work with two countries described by US President George Bush as part of the "axis of evil" amounted to "appeasement".
CONT (http://tinyurl.com/y2wskl)
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Blair admits Iraq 'disaster'
George Jones, London
November 19, 2006
IN A significant concession to critics of the war in Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has acknowledged that the invasion of the country by the United States and Britain has been a "disaster".
His frankest assessment yet, that the country could descend into civil war, came on Friday as Margaret Hodge, a long-standing political ally, reportedly described the conflict as Mr Blair's "big mistake in foreign affairs".
At a private meeting in London, the Industry Minister is also said to have accused him of "moral imperialism".
Interviewed on al-Jazeera television's new English-language channel, Mr Blair was challenged by David Frost over the daily murders, bombings and kidnappings in Iraq. Frost said the West's military intervention in Iraq had "so far been pretty much of a disaster".
Mr Blair responded: "It has, (but) what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq? It is not difficult because of some accident in planning. It is difficult because there is a deliberate strategy: al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with (Shiite) militias on the other, to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war."
Mr Blair admitted that the insurgents, who killed four British troops near Basra lastSunday, were testing Britain's will but insisted forces would stay for as long as the Iraqi Government needed them.
Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel has angered London and Washington by broadcasting tapes from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and showing dead soldiers.
Mr Blair used the interview to renew his appeal to Iran and Syria to co-operate in ending the violence and to secure a settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He rejected as "completely absurd" any suggestion that his readiness to work with two countries described by US President George Bush as part of the "axis of evil" amounted to "appeasement".
CONT (http://tinyurl.com/y2wskl)