Blair supports Bush's new plan for Iraq

British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday offered strong support for President Bush's new plan for Iraq and said he believes the Iraqi prime minister can meet the benchmarks the United States has set.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Blair said of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki: "He's a man with the intent and we've got to support him in having the capacity. That's what it's all about."

Despite the optimism, Blair called Iraq a tremendous challenge. Bush has committed an additional 21,500 American troops to a new security push for Iraq, with most bound for Baghdad. U.S. officials have indicated the operation should start in earnest about Feb. 1.

Blair, who is expected to leave office by June and is making his last appearance as prime minister at the World Economic Forum at Davos, said that the world is already in a climate crisis and that he expects progress on global trade talks.

"It'd be a fantastic thing for poor countries, but also good for us."

Blair brushed off criticism in Britain that, because his time as leader of Britain is running out, he should have stayed away from Davos and given the floor to other British leaders, including his presumed successor, Treasurer Gordon Brown.

"The thing about me is, there is criticism of me whatever I do," he said. "You know if I decide whether I'm going to come to a place on the basis of whether I get criticism of not, I wouldn't go anywhere," he laughed. "I wouldn't even go outside the front door."

Unless a global climate agreement is reached to bind the main countries, the outlook for the world is "bleak at best, and potentially disastrous," Blair said.

"We're living through a crisis with the changes to our environment," Blair said. "The fact is, just on the precautionary principle, it'd be sensible to act. And the truth is, if we don't act, and in a way that binds the main countries in ... long term prospects are bleak at best, and potentially disastrous."

Blair said that he wanted to use his visit to call attention to issues he has championed before, but which are not coming to the fore in international councils.

"We've got really important work to do in the international community, whether it is with climate change, with trade, with Africa," he said.

"The values that underpin all of these issues are the same values, which are about protecting our environment and justice for people, making sure that we create a world that is open and free for people to create the prosperity that they want and that is prepared to work with each other to take on global challenges. And that is my message really _ that we work in an interdependent world."

Blair said the world shares certain values, "and the key thing is to turn that intent and purpose into action."

On trade talks, the prime minister said he was cautiously optimistic, because of the hard work that has been done in the last few weeks in discussions with Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"I think we are prepared to move to make the compromises necessary to get this done in the greater good of all of us," he said.

An agreement on trade would be a "fantastic" for the poorest nations, Blair said. "But it would also be a great thing for us, for the wealthy countries, because it would open new markets to our goods and services."

In Iraq, Blair said the important thing now is to support the Iraqi government in its fight against the violence, "which is being perpetrated by a small number of people against the wishes and the will of the majority."

He disputed that the violence there is a civil war "with blocs of people fighting each other. This is a small minority ... often bolstered by outside extremists."

"The one thing that was very clear when I was in Iraq before Christmas was that if you talk to not just Iraqi leaders there, but, interestingly, talking to my own soldiers and people we have in Iraq, they will tell you the majority of people there want to live a peaceful life."

Asked whether British and Americans were losing patience, he said: "Perfectly understandably they want to know that we've got a plan and can succeed with this plan."

In any case, "What mustn't happen is a situation where as a result of terrorist activity designed to kill innocent people and the impact those terrible pictures make, that we lose our determination to stand up to these people and defeat them."