Blair kept a low profile during Iraq invasion first anniversary (AFP)

LONDON, March 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair who came anew under a diatribe Saturday, March 20,  from most British dailies marking the first anniversary of Iraq invasion - is considering a snap general election later this year to push for a third term in office, counting on Labour’s plans to spend more on schools, hospitals and other social services, according to a British daily.

The move, however, was seen by analysts as a preemptive bid to boost the Premier’s declining ratings due to the Iraqi swamp with Labour’s fears that any feel-good social factor could be lost by delay.

MPs have been ordered to update campaign leaflets as soon as this summer's council and European elections are over, the Daily Mirror said Saturday.

It was widely expected that the elections will be held this October, around 20 months earlier than deadline for the ordinary poll.

“We've just been told that our photos for the campaign leaflets must be got ready after the Euro elections and local elections in June. There is a growing sense that October is no longer out of the question,” one MP told the paper.

According to the daily, senior Labour sources say the mood for an election this autumn is growing thanks to a new mood of “optimism”.

“Party chairman Ian McCartney said that the party’s manifesto must be ready by autumn”.

“Everyone thought that was for the annual conference but it looks as if it might have more significance,” the MP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the paper.

Citing big social advantages this October, a cabinet source further told the paper: “At a meeting this week there was real evidence delivery on public services is finally happening.”

Support for Labour has slumped from 75 percent of Muslim voters at the last general election to 38 percent, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published on Monday.

Preemptive

Analysts, however, believe that the early elections would –in case resorted to – be used as a preemptive tactic by Blair, who could be damaged by November's U.S. presidential elections or America 's inquiry next spring into the case for war in Iraq .

Blair was U.S. President George W. Bush's closest ally in the conflict, despite widespread public skepticism among the British public over the reasons for going to war.

At the time, Blair argued that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s chemical and biological weapons made him an immediate danger to the West, an argument which severely dented his credibility when no such stockpiles were discovered after the war.

Congress-pressured Bush ordered in February a bipartisan commission to probe apparent flaws in intelligence used to invade Iraq .

Blair bowed to mounting pressures both from his Labour Party and the opposition, announcing a cross-party inquiry  into the quality of British intelligence about Iraq 's alleged weapons.

Analysts believe that after Spanish threats to pull out troops of Iraq by the end of June, the time when the U.S.-led occupation supposedly will give the Iraqis back their sovereignty, Blair has found himself increasingly isolated on the European stage.

If Spanish Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero translated his threats into action, the U.S. could no longer use their presence as evidence of international support for the occupation of Iraq .

Blair Lambasted

British newspapers, meanwhile, seized the first anniversary of the Iraq war to launch anew bitter attacks against Blair for his unflinching support for the U.S. in the invasion of the country.

Most trenchant was the Independent, which used its entire front page to run a hard-hitting editorial piece condemning the enterprise, titled: “A year of war that made the world a more dangerous place,” reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The conflict “should never have happened”, it argued.

“Even at our most pessimistic, however, we underestimated the flimsiness of the pretext and the gravity of the consequences,” the paper said, calling the situation in Iraq “terrorism's best recruiting agent”.

The Daily Mirror also - generally a supporter of Blair's government - condemned the aftermath of the conflict.

“On this first anniversary we could have expected there to be dates for elections in Iraq and the withdrawal of British troops,” it said in an editorial.

“There are neither, and certainly no prospects of our forces returning home in the near future. If this is victory, it is a very hollow one.”

However other newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, which supported Blair's decision to go to war, steered clear of the issue in their editorial columns.

The conflict and its aftermath was also criticized by the Financial Times, which said that one year on, “the whole Iraq enterprise still hangs in the balance”.

The situation in the country was now slowly improving, but only after some “appalling chaos and breathtaking improvisation” by U.S. authorities when the conflict ended, it said.

Blair himself has no plans to mark the anniversary, his official spokesman said Friday, March 19.

In contrast, thousands of opponents of the war were expected to demonstrate on the streets of central London Saturday.

The Australians were the first to take to the streets Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion-turned occupation of Iraq , as massive rallies were planned worldwide for the same purpose.

The Guardian noted that In London people will march under the banner: “No more lies, Mr. Blair!”

“Tony Blair, wrapping himself in Churchillian language, talks about being at the end of the first phase of the war on terror. However, it looks as if we may be at the beginning of the end of Tony Blair,” it said.