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Bush, Blair to discuss their war on Iraq Jordan Times, 3/27/03
LONDON (AFP) — With a decisive battle for Baghdad looming, British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed for a war summit with US President George W. Bush Wednesday, as Britain warned that the days of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime were “numbered.” In addition to the military campaign, Blair planned to discuss with Bush international efforts to rebuild a post-Saddam Iraq and ways of mending US-European relations, tattered in the run-up to the war. Britain wants the United Nations to oversee a post-Saddam administration, but elements within the White House are said to be unwilling to involve antiwar nations like France, Germany and Russia in decisions on how Iraq should be run. Doubts have also been voiced over whether Bush shares Blair's determination to revive the Middle East peace process. But the British premier insisted before leaving London: “There is no difference between us at all on the basic principles.” Speaking on his plane about his meeting with Bush, Blair told reporters: “Obviously we will go through the military situation, but we will also have the opportunity to discuss America and Europe, to discuss the issue of weapons of mass destruction, relations between the West and the Arab world, as well as the Middle East peace process.” On the future administration of Iraq, the prime minister said he had no doubt that there would be “a whole process of discussions... the important thing is that it's got to be something that is UN-endorsed.” After talks with Bush at Camp David, near Washington, on Wednesday and Thursday, Blair was to travel to New York to meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The prime minister cautioned that “the next couple of days are not going to determine what the post-conflict situation is like,” saying that the top priority at the moment was humanitarian help for Iraqi civilians. Blair has been US President George W. Bush's staunchest ally in the showdown with Saddam over weapons of mass destruction, sending 45,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen, 120 tanks, a naval task force and 100-plus warplanes to join the US-led war. Their summit will be the third time this year that Bush and Blair have met face to face, after talks at the White House on Jan. 31 and on Portugal's Azores islands on March 16, four days before the US-led invasion of Iraq began. Shortly before his plane took off at 2:00pm (1400 GMT), Blair, speaking in parliament, said Britain had “sufficient forces” in Iraq and that there were no plans to send reinforcements at this stage. London's Evening Standard daily reported Wednesday that Washington was set to ask Blair to send 4,000 extra troops to protect allied supply lines. Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told lawmakers that the focus of the US-British coalition's efforts in Iraq would now be on air support of ground forces advancing on Baghdad. Updating parliament on the progress of the war, Hoon told the House of Commons that Saddam's regime has “effectively lost control of southern Iraq,” and that “the regime must know that its days are now numbered.” Outlining “steady” coalition progress, Hoon said more than 5,000 sorties had been flown in the air campaign, achieving “significant degradation” of Iraqi command and control facilities. While Blair warned that any Iraqi officers who used chemical or biological weapons in the conflict would be prosecuted “with the utmost severity,” Hoon acknowledged there was no sign that Iraq had used such weapons so far. He said that coalition experts were investigating “potential” sites of weapons of mass destruction.
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