A BAD IDEA: U.S. PRIMES WORLD FOR WAR ON IRAQ; Blair is 'deeply concerned' about Bush attack plan, says Arab king.Byline: OONAGH BLACKMAN, Deputy Political Editor TONY Blair Noun 1. Tony Blair - British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, Blair has told King Abdullah King Abdullah can refer to:
The Arab monarch, in Washington for talks with President Bush, broke protocol to reveal Mr Blair's privately expressed "tremendous concerns" about an attack to topple Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (born April 28, 1937, Tikrit, Iraq—died Dec. 30, 2006, Baghdad) President of Iraq (1979–2003). He joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. Following participation in a failed attempt to assassinate Iraqi Pres. . King Abdullah said: "Everybody is saying this is a bad idea. "If it seems America says we want to hit Baghdad, that's not what Jordanians think, or the British, the French, the Russians, the Chinese and everybody else." The Premier - under mounting pressure not to send British troops to war in Iraq - met Abdullah in London on Monday. No 10 did not respond directly to suggestion Mr Blair was worried by invasion plans. A spokeswoman said nothing had changed since the PM's Downing Street press conference a week ago, when he made his last remarks on Iraq. She said Mr Blair had a constructive dialogue with the King. But in an interview in Washington yesterday, Abdullah went public with what he said were Mr Blair's "creeping misgivings" about war on Iraq. "A miscalculation mis·cal·cu·late tr. & intr.v. mis·cal·cu·lat·ed, mis·cal·cu·lat·ing, mis·cal·cu·lates To count or estimate incorrectly. mis·cal there would throw the whole area into turmoil," he said. The king's disclosure is hugely embarrassing for Downing Street which appeared to be caught off guard. Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: "King Abdullah is the informed voice of reason in the Middle East." Mr Bush later made it clear he was unswayed on ousting Saddam. With Abdullah sitting beside him in the Oval Office, the President said: "He'll find out I haven't changed my mind." Mr Blair will next month face one of the biggest anti-war protests in Britain for years. Protesters will mass in London on September 28 before the PM heads for the Labour Party conference in Blackpool. A string of Stop the War events will be held over the next few weeks in the run-up to the main demonstration at Hyde Park. US support for an invasion has plunged from 74 per cent last November to 59 per cent, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion