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| Iraq |
| Blair makes surprise Iraq visit |
| 2005-12-22 |
| Tony Blair has paid tribute to British troops after flying into Iraq for a surprise pre-Christmas visit. Mr Blair told them: "I just want you to know how grateful we are for the work you are doing here." He said they were helping to build democracy and they could return home when Iraqi forces were up to strength. Mr Blair has not set a timetable for withdrawal but ex-British Ambassador to Baghdad Sir Jeremy Greenstock has said it could take several years. Mr Blair said he would not set an "arbitrary timetable" for withdrawal, adding "you assess when the job's going to be done". Last week's election in Iraq meant there was a "completely different situation from the situation a year ago", he added, although "huge challenges" remained. Mr Blair, whose visit had been kept secret, touched down in Basra in an RAF Hercules from Kuwait. He then transferred by helicopter to the Shaiba logistics base, where he addressed 4,000 troops from the back of a low-loader truck. He told them: "I know it's particularly tough being away from your families at Christmas and New Year. "I just want you to know how grateful we are for the work you are doing here. However tough it is, I hope you have some sense of how important it is." He said 10 million Iraqis had voted in recent elections. "The important thing is to try and help this country become the democracy its people want it to be," Mr Blair told the troops. That would be done by providing the security which allowed the Iraqi forces to build up their own strength "and then of course we can eventually draw down our own capability". "The importance of this is probably greater today than it has ever been," said Mr Blair. "Because, if Iraq does stabilise and become a democracy, then the region is more safe, our own country is more safe, because international terrorism will have been dealt a huge blow. "If we manage to defeat the terrorism here, we will have dealt it a blow worldwide. I know how dangerous it is sometimes, because we have lost good colleagues here - and it is tough, I know, sometimes." But whatever the dangers "you can look back at this time and you can be very, very proud of what you have done", the prime minister told the troops. Mr Blair is meeting top US and British defence officials during his flying visit, including Gen George Casey, commander in chief of coalition forces. It is Mr Blair's fourth visit to Iraq. The UK has 8,500 servicemen and women stationed in the country. The prime minister's official spokesman said Mr Blair wanted to "talk through the way forward" in the wake of last week's Iraqi elections and discuss the ongoing "Iraqi-isation" of the country's security forces. Former British Ambassador to Baghdad, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, has said it will be "some years" before coalition troops leave Iraq. "I think (the insurgency) has got at least five years of life, because there are men and there are materials, there's motivation there from the Sunni insurgents, the left-over Baathists, the Saddamists and from the foreign jihadists, the Al Qaeda franchise. "There's men and materials there for several years of insurgency," he told Sky News. The BBC's Carole Walker, who is travelling with the prime minister, says security around the visit is very tight, with British soldiers unaware of it until Mr Blair landed, reflecting security concerns in the region. She said Mr Blair viewed last week's election in Iraq as an important step on the road to an eventual pull-out. The prime minister had been "encouraged" by a meeting with US officials, who told him that, by the summer of next year, around 75% of operations in some areas will be controlled by Iraqi forces, with coalition forces "merely providing back up", she said. Mr Blair was also told it should be possible to hand over to Iraqi forces in two of the quieter provinces around Basra over the coming year, she added. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #3 Naaahhh, Pappy - Scrooge ordered a turkey for the Cratchets. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-12-22 22:56 |
| #2 Did he bring a plastic, um, Steak 'n Kidney pie or a pudding of some sort? Goose - a plastic goose. Something to do with a guy named Dickens, I think. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-12-22 18:14 |
| #1 Did he bring a plastic, um, Steak 'n Kidney pie or a pudding of some sort? I'm sure the UK MSM needs their idiot moonbat memes, too. "if Iraq does stabilise and become a democracy" Sheesh. How fucking wimpy. They've got him running scared, I'd say. How fucking sad. Damnit. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-12-22 08:55 |