Blair Makes Surprise Iraq Visit
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on a surprise visit to Iraq, said on Sunday he stood "four square" behind Iraqi democracy and pledged he would support the country against those who wished "to live in hatred rather than peace."
Blair held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a visit designed to show support for fragile attempts to halt continuing bloodshed in the country.
Blair, who is traveling the Middle East to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was whisked into the heavily fortified Green Zone from the airport on a military helicopter. He had flown to Baghdad by a Royal Air Force transport plane from Cairo. It was his sixth visit to the country since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.
During a joint news conference with al-Maliki, the British prime minister stressed the importance of "all countries in the region" supporting the fledgling Iraqi government, and insisted Iraq had made progress since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
"Our task — ours, the Americans, the whole of the coalition, the international community and the Iraqis themselves — is to make sure that the forces of terrorism don't defeat the will of the people to have a democracy," Blair said at a news conference with al-Maliki.
Blair rejected a suggestion that the sectarian bloodshed being experienced across the country was created by the U.S. and British decision to invade, saying the challenge in Iraq was part of a wide struggle against those opposed to democracy.
"There is innocent blood being spilt, but it's not being spilt by the Iraqi government democratically elected or by those supporting them. It's being spilt by the very forces that worldwide are trying to prevent moderation, prevent modernization, prevent people expressing their will through democracy rather than through violence," he said.
Late on Sunday afternoon, Blair flew to Basra to visit some of the troops stationed there.
In a cavernous hangar and before a backdrop of a Lynx helicopter, Blair told some of the 7,000 British troops serving in southern Iraq that they were fighting on behalf of "people of tolerance and moderation" around the world.
"This is real conflict, real battle, and it is a different kind of enemy — not fighting a state, but fighting a set of ideas and ideologies, a group of extremists who share the same perspectives," Blair said. "What we need to try to do is build an alliance of moderate people against the extreme."
During what has become an annual holiday-season visit to the region, Blair told troops that extremism was causing havoc in neighborhoods from Basra to London — a reference to the July 2005 transit bombings in the British capital.
"The crazy thing about today's world is it actually comes back to our own streets," he said. "All over the world the same struggle is going on, and if we don't stand up and fight for the people of tolerance and moderation who want to live together, whatever their fate, then the people of hatred and sectarianism will triumph."
Battling extremism has been the theme of Blair's trip to the region, which began in Turkey, moved to Egypt, and is to continue in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and the United Arab Emirates.
"Our country and other countries like it are having to rediscover what it means to fight for what you believe in," Blair told the soldiers.
Britain has the largest commitment of troops in Iraq of any country after the United States. More than 120 British personnel have died in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that ousted Saddam Hussein.
British officials said several thousand troops are expected to be withdrawn from Iraq next year.
Blair gave no new details, however, of when troops might leave Iraq.
Meanwhile, in other developments:
A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers and injured a fourth serviceman north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday.
The soldiers were conducting a patrol to clear a route so that another unit could move through the area on Saturday, the military said in a statement. A bomb exploded near one of their vehicles, the statement said.
The toll raised to 57 the number of Americans killed in Iraq in December. At least 2,945 members of the U.S. military have died since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
In another sign of Iraq's lawlessness, gunmen in five pickup trucks pulled up at the office of the Iraqi Red Crescent in downtown Baghdad and abducted 20 to 30 employees and visitors, the aid group and police said. The brazen attack occurred at around 11 a.m.
A Red Crescent official said the gunmen left women behind at the office in Andalus square. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.
The Red Crescent, which is part of the international Red Cross movement, has around 1,000 staff and some 200,000 volunteers in Iraq. It works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visits detainees and tries to provide food, water and medicine to Iraqis.
Mazin Abdellaha, the secretary-general of the Iraq Red Crescent, appealed to the kidnappers to release the captives.
"They represent a humanitarian agency that works for the general good, and this agency helps all people regardless of their sect or ethnicity," Abdellaha said.
At least half a dozen mass kidnappings have been carried out in the Iraqi capital this year, possibly by armed groups linked to the sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.
On Saturday, Iraq's prime minister reached out to Sunni Arabs at a national reconciliation conference, urging Saddam Hussein-era officers to join the new army and calling for a review of the ban against members of the former dictator's ruling party.
But key players on both ends of the Sunni-Shiite divide skipped Saturday's meeting, raising doubt that the conference will succeed in healing the country's wounds.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Blair held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a visit designed to show support for fragile attempts to halt continuing bloodshed in the country.
Blair, who is traveling the Middle East to push for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was whisked into the heavily fortified Green Zone from the airport on a military helicopter. He had flown to Baghdad by a Royal Air Force transport plane from Cairo. It was his sixth visit to the country since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion.
During a joint news conference with al-Maliki, the British prime minister stressed the importance of "all countries in the region" supporting the fledgling Iraqi government, and insisted Iraq had made progress since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
"Our task — ours, the Americans, the whole of the coalition, the international community and the Iraqis themselves — is to make sure that the forces of terrorism don't defeat the will of the people to have a democracy," Blair said at a news conference with al-Maliki.
Blair rejected a suggestion that the sectarian bloodshed being experienced across the country was created by the U.S. and British decision to invade, saying the challenge in Iraq was part of a wide struggle against those opposed to democracy.
"There is innocent blood being spilt, but it's not being spilt by the Iraqi government democratically elected or by those supporting them. It's being spilt by the very forces that worldwide are trying to prevent moderation, prevent modernization, prevent people expressing their will through democracy rather than through violence," he said.
Late on Sunday afternoon, Blair flew to Basra to visit some of the troops stationed there.
In a cavernous hangar and before a backdrop of a Lynx helicopter, Blair told some of the 7,000 British troops serving in southern Iraq that they were fighting on behalf of "people of tolerance and moderation" around the world.
"This is real conflict, real battle, and it is a different kind of enemy — not fighting a state, but fighting a set of ideas and ideologies, a group of extremists who share the same perspectives," Blair said. "What we need to try to do is build an alliance of moderate people against the extreme."
During what has become an annual holiday-season visit to the region, Blair told troops that extremism was causing havoc in neighborhoods from Basra to London — a reference to the July 2005 transit bombings in the British capital.
"The crazy thing about today's world is it actually comes back to our own streets," he said. "All over the world the same struggle is going on, and if we don't stand up and fight for the people of tolerance and moderation who want to live together, whatever their fate, then the people of hatred and sectarianism will triumph."
Battling extremism has been the theme of Blair's trip to the region, which began in Turkey, moved to Egypt, and is to continue in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and the United Arab Emirates.
"Our country and other countries like it are having to rediscover what it means to fight for what you believe in," Blair told the soldiers.
Britain has the largest commitment of troops in Iraq of any country after the United States. More than 120 British personnel have died in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that ousted Saddam Hussein.
British officials said several thousand troops are expected to be withdrawn from Iraq next year.
Blair gave no new details, however, of when troops might leave Iraq.
Meanwhile, in other developments:
The soldiers were conducting a patrol to clear a route so that another unit could move through the area on Saturday, the military said in a statement. A bomb exploded near one of their vehicles, the statement said.
The toll raised to 57 the number of Americans killed in Iraq in December. At least 2,945 members of the U.S. military have died since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
A Red Crescent official said the gunmen left women behind at the office in Andalus square. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns.
The Red Crescent, which is part of the international Red Cross movement, has around 1,000 staff and some 200,000 volunteers in Iraq. It works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which visits detainees and tries to provide food, water and medicine to Iraqis.
Mazin Abdellaha, the secretary-general of the Iraq Red Crescent, appealed to the kidnappers to release the captives.
"They represent a humanitarian agency that works for the general good, and this agency helps all people regardless of their sect or ethnicity," Abdellaha said.
At least half a dozen mass kidnappings have been carried out in the Iraqi capital this year, possibly by armed groups linked to the sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites.
But key players on both ends of the Sunni-Shiite divide skipped Saturday's meeting, raising doubt that the conference will succeed in healing the country's wounds.
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In an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Smith called for changes in U.S. policy that could include rapid pullouts of U.S. troops from Iraq. He said he never would have voted for the conflict if he had known the intelligence that President Bush gave the American people was inaccurate.
What a stupid republican Senator (like many others). These are the senators with blue ties around the neck with no brain above and no heart below. They get duped by a story full of lies about the Sad-Dam and his program of WMD. Very tempting to go it alone behind courageous but moron Walking-Liar Bush.
Mislead by Zionists Wolfowitz, Perle et al (Where are they now?). The whole administration has been duped. They were told, the Bi-ble stipulates to go into Iraq to fight the new prince of Darkness (hint, hint, SadDam)
No pity for those mules and donkeys of the republican party. They should all be held to account. As per Gord Smith they are criminals
Indeed.
This is now the THIRD article assigned to this thread, while comments relating to the first two articles remain. As I have already indicated, the first 6 pages of comments here relate to the first article only.
Please clean up this mess, and restore the original 'Red Crescent' article, so that it can be referenced by others.
My point is that the fluctuation in the polls reflects the fact that opposition to the war is not based on principle.... rather events on the ground... if it based on principle... opposition at the start would have been overwhelming & would remain so today...
Again... do most people who oppose the war in Iraq do so on principle... because they question the very rationale for us there in the first place, the use of pre-war intelligence and the suggested link between Saddam and Al-Quaeda that the administration tried so hard to establish? I think not...
Again the polls would suggest that as long as US troops are not dying and things seem to be going well... public opinion on the war is more favourable... the key question is this: are Americans actually opposed to the war in Iraq or opposed to the fact that we don't seem to be winning?
No wonder Bush is being so stubborn... all he needs is to reduce the US body count and throw in a few blue riband events and he is likely to see his Iraq poll numbers peak again... he is playing politics with the unprincipled....
Like if I was to ask you what you thought about a star, say Brad Pitt, you would immediately think of the recent media created information surrounding him. Your opinion would not reflect Brad Pitt himslef, or the reality of his life, or even an accurate insider tidbit or two, but exactly what you get from the media reflected back.
Most people know less about foreign policy or war or say Islam than you and I know about Brad Pitt.
So the polls are used by the leadership to justify the policies they do, and its kind of a sham. We need to hold the leadership responsible, not the American people.
I always look forward to your posts and take your point... However I beg to differ with you on this occasion.... If you track the polls over time you will seek a direct correlation between approval for the war and events on the ground... the spike generally does not last long because much of the news out of Iraq tends to be bad... but there has always been an increase in approval in response of a perceive "success milestone" (elections, constitutional referendum, capture of Saddam etc)
As for the IQ of the average American... I think Americans are actually astute... the sad thing is that unlike the Brits who smelled a rat from day one and protested in large numbers on the streets of London (one million in a 2003 pre-war protest) the American public allowed itself to be seduced by the fear-mongering that masqueraded as foreign polcy and cowed into submission by the idea that to oppose the President is "unpatriotic"
Many in this country (including our elected leaders... Democrat as well as Republican) suspended reason, common-sense and good judgement and the nation is now paying the price for it...
On this war I strongly believe that most American's are waiting for the next big news story before deciding whether they are for it or against it...