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Bush to discuss Iraq report with close
ally Blair
7.12.2006
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WASHINGTON,--
President George W. Bush and close ally British
Prime Minister Tony Blair will
consider the future course in Iraq a day after a
report said the current U.S. military and diplomatic
strategy was not working.
Blair has been under fire at home for his staunch
support of Washington, while U.S. voters were widely
seen as repudiating Bush's approach in November 7
elections in which his Republican Party lost control
of the U.S. Congress.
The British leader's visit to the White House on
Thursday comes as the Iraq Study Group advised Bush
to begin withdrawing U.S. combat forces from the
violence-wracked country and to launch a diplomatic
push that would include Iraq's neighbors Iran and
Syria.
"We do not recommend a stay-the-course solution,"
said former Secretary of State James Baker, a
Republican who co-chaired the bipartisan commission
with former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton. "In our
opinion, that is no longer viable."
Like the panel, Blair is expected to urge Bush to
embrace a wider Middle East peace policy to help
resolve the Iraq crisis in what White House
spokesman Tony Snow predicted would be a "very
freewheeling" conversation. |
US President George W. Bush (R) and British Prime
Minister Tony Blair
Photo:AFP |
"And so I would be loath to make any predictions.
But I'm certain that this report is going to come
up, and I'm certain that some of the recommendations
will come up," he said.
When the 10-member group spoke with Blair last
month, the prime minister was wrestling with similar
issues to what the panel was considering.
"He (Blair) was dealing in many ways with precisely
the same questions we were and with pretty much the
same answers," said Lawrence Eagleburger, a
secretary of state under former President George
Bush, the current president's father.
Leon Panetta, White House chief of staff to former
President Bill Clinton, said Blair had suggested the
panel push for its recommendations to begin to be
put in place by as early as January.
"The United States government has never moved that
fast on anything," Eagleburger said during a joint
interview with reporters.
Bush and Blair also meet a day after the Senate
confirmed Robert Gates as the new U.S. defense
secretary, replacing Donald Rumsfeld, who was a key
architect of the war and a favorite target of its
critics.
After holding talks with Bush at the White House and
a joint news conference, Blair was scheduled to meet
outgoing House of Representatives Speaker Dennis
Hastert, an Illinois Republican, and Rep. Nancy
Pelosi, a California Democrat who takes over the
House leadership role when the new Congress convenes
in January.
The crisis in Darfur, the war in Afghanistan and
proposals for action against climate change were
also likely to come up during Blair's talks.
Reuters
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