Blair Starts to Sidle Away from Bush

[Eloriel]

Blair begins to sidle away from his US ally
FRASER NELSON

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=746472004

FOR Tony Blair, the prescription for Iraq seemed simple. "Have confidence and faith, and you will succeed," he said in an interview on Iraqi television. If this was meant as a farewell, it certainly reflected the new attitude in London.

Iraq is now, primarily, someone else’s problem - it has a sovereign prime minister who is in charge of repressing terrorists. This, Mr Blair hopes, will push the daily death toll to the inside pages of the newspapers.

But there is a greater dividend, with more far-reaching implications. Quietly, Mr Blair is moving away from George Bush in preparation for his own general election. He is easing away by stealth.

There was not a trace of this at the NATO summit in Istanbul, where the picture of Mr Blair shaking the US president’s hand was the perfect image for the handover of power in Iraq. "It was so unstaged that it looked staged," complained one aide.

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[qb]

1. Too little, too late. You're going down, Poodle Boy!

[Manix]

2. ...bye,bye Tony Boy!

[otohara]

3. I Thought Blair Was Smart

buh bye Tony - you blew it big time

[calico1]

4. Yeah, I hope they vote him out.

Would serve him right.