WASHINGTON DC: Sitting in the press conference, I thought it was extraordinary that just the day after the Iraq study group had been so critical of what was happening in Iraq, the president used such soft language to describe the situation there. All we got from the president was a very gentle phrase about the trouble in Baghdad being 'unsettling'.
That's why I put .
The detail of his response was fascinating. In his answer, he mentioned 9/11, the danger that Iraq would become a safe haven for terrorists (as Afghanistan was), the nuclear threat (presumably he meant Iran), and oil. So it seems that while the president is on the back foot at home on Iraq, he tried to raise all the things that would encourage the American people to support him.
WASHINGTON DC: I've just been eyeballed long and hard by George Bush for suggesting he might be in denial re Iraq. It's important, he told me, that you understand that I understand that it's bad.
UPDATE 5:20 PM: See it for yourself here...
WASHINGTON DC: It is impossible to conceive of the prime minister and the president standing shoulder to shoulder today as they've done so many times before to insist that the war in Iraq is being won, and that all that's needed is the will "to stay the course" (Bush-speak) or to "get the job done" (Blair-speak).
Just before flying to the US, Tony Blair was asked at Prime Minister's Questions whether he agreed with the new US defence secretary's stark assessment of the war. "Of course" came the reply as if that's what he'd always said. That follows his assent recently to the suggestion that Iraq was .
Clearly the rhetoric at this White House news conference will be very different form others in the past. What, though, of the reality?
The for some of what the British government have been urging on the American administration in private. Ever since 9/11, the prime minister has talked of the urgency of pursuing an Arab-Israeli settlement. I expect him to announce that he's heading to the Middle East again soon in an effort to accelerate the search for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In so doing Mr Blair is mirroring the call from the Iraq Study Group for a "whole Middle East strategy". So far, though, President Bush has not followed his lead.
The prime minister has also, like the ISG, spoken of engaging Iraq's partners, Iran and, in particular, Syria. Although Mr Blair's foreign affairs adviser recently visited Syria there are no plans for the PM to follow him on the road to Damascus. The message from London is that the door is open to President Assad but it is his choice as to whether he walks through it. His trip to the region will take in other countries though that are regarded as moderate Muslim allies.
Recently, a state department official here in Washington confessed that "we typically ignore" the British and "take no notice - it's a sad business". Tony Blair must hope that he just might be listened to, now that senior American politicians from both parties are saying some of the things he's been saying. He is, after all, in his own words "an eternal optimist".
