Rice's UK trip a 'PR nightmare'

2006-04-02 09:04

Blackburn - US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was to head back on Sunday from her trip to northwest England after a visit which shaped up as a public relations nightmare.

Anti-Iraq protests again dogged Rice and her host, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, throughout her two-day trip to his constituency of Blackburn, a dreary former mill town of 100 000 people best known as a footnote in a Beatles song.

About 200 demonstrators posting banners proclaiming "War on terror, war on Islam" and "Bring the troops home" greeted the two as they arrived at the town hall Saturday to meet with local Muslim leaders.

At a joint news conference, Rice reacted to a statement by her host that the Guantanamo detention centre was "an anomaly," by saying the US would close the facility the day it was no longer needed.

"The United States does not desire to keep Guantanamo in being any longer than it is needed," she said.

"We don't want to be the world's jailer," she said. "That's not the United States, (or) the purpose of US policy."

Rice came to Lancashire on what was supposed to be a feel-good visit to Straw's constituency to repay his October trip to her home state of Alabama. But the journey was plagued by problems from the start.

Hopes of meeting former Beatle Paul McCartney fell through, a mosque withdrew its invitation and a local luminary lined up to host a concert in nearby Liverpool pulled out as a political statement.

She visited a school in this community that is 25% Muslim, but many of the children were kept home for the day by protesting parents. Others cut classes to join the protests.

Rice was supposed to watch Straw's beloved Blackburn Rovers football team play but their match was moved to Monday night for better television coverage. So a brief ceremony to present her with a jersey took place in an empty 32 000-seat stadium.

The British press painted the trip as Straw bringing his girl home to meet the folks, aided by comic strip-style photos with speech bubbles and a much-used picture of Straw with his hands on Rice.

- SAPA