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Defiant Blair visits Iraq
19/05/2007 11:47 - (SA)
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| British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrives in Baghdad for a surprise final visit. He is due to have talks with President Jalal Talibani and Premier Nouri Malaki in the Green Zone. (Stefan Rousseau, AP) |
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Baghdad - Britain's Tony Blair has paid his final visit as prime minister to Iraq, a country whose future may define the legacy of his decade in power.
He flew into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to meet President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday, to discuss how to push for greater political reconciliation in a country fractured by sectarian violence.
Blair's decision to join United States President George W Bush and send British troops to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003 despite huge opposition at home was the defining moment of his rule.
Lingering resentment from the public and within the ruling Labour Party over Blair's steadfast support for Bush and the war ultimately forced him to cut short his third term.
He will quit on June 27 and finance minister Gordon Brown will take over.
'Mission impossible'
Four years after the invasion, US and British forces face daily attacks from insurgents, sectarian violence is undermining the state and officials within and outside Maliki's coalition admit stabilising Iraq is almost a "mission impossible".
But Blair believes there have been positive political developments and he wants to discuss a coherent plan with Maliki to see faster progress.
"We need to take advantage of the possible momentum in Iraqi politics to create the space for long-term security," Blair's official spokesperson told reporters.
"The key to that is reconciliation ensuring the needs of Iraqis of different communities are properly taken into account and a lasting political accommodation is reached between them."
But for now, Blair's legacy remains tarnished by Iraq - despite helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland and the success of military intervention in Kosovo and Sierra Leone.
Attacks on troops increasing
What rankles is the perception that Blair took Britain to war over a lie - that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. A poll for the Observer newspaper this year, showed that 58% of Britons believed Iraq was Blair's biggest failure.
British forces initially seemed to have done well in Basra, a predominantly Shi'ite city in the south not plagued by the sectarian violence of Baghdad, nor prone to many strikes on foreign troops.
But security in Basra has deteriorated in the past few years as rival Shi'ite militias battle for control.
Attacks on British forces have been rising. April was the deadliest month since the invasion.
Britain is cutting its force in Basra to 5 500 from 7 000 and drawing back most of its troops to the international airport.
Blair is adamant that invading Iraq was the right thing to do.
"We took a decision that we thought was very difficult. I thought then, and I think now, it was the right decision," he said in Washington this week.
- Reuters
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