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The Bush-Blair partnership was described by the Economist as an "axis of feeble". (Reuters)
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WASHINGTON – US President
George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair looked like humbled
men Thursday, May 25, as they admitted mistakes and missteps they made
after occupying Iraq, while the steep descent of their popular ratings
has become the most common aspect of their close ties.
For
two men unaccustomed to admitting errors, the 50-minute prime-time
appearance at the White House turned largely into an broad-ranging mea
culpa session on Iraq, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"I
think the biggest mistake that's happened so far, at least from our
country's involvement, is Abu Ghraib," Bush told the joint press
conference.
"We've
been paying for that for a long period of time."
The
Abu Ghraib abuse scandal broke with the release of photos of Iraqi
detainees being mistreated and sexually abused by US jail guards at the
notorious prison outside Baghdad.
Bush
also regretted some of his tough talk during the Iraq war campaign,
citing his "bring them on" challenge to Iraqi fighters in July
2003, four months after the US-led invasion.
"I
think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted and so I
learned from that," he lamented.
Staunchly
backed by Britain, the US invaded Iraq in March 2003 on the grounds that
it was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and had links to
Al-Qaeda.
A
congressional report later concluded the Bush administration was
"dead wrong" on the MWD claim and that Iraq had no link with
Al-Qaeda.
Poor
Judgment
Blair
said the US-led forces misread the situation in post-Saddam Iraq.
"I
think inevitably some of the things that we thought were going to be the
biggest challenge proved not to be, and some of the things we didn't
expect to be challenges at all have proved to be immense," he said.
He
expressed specific regret over the wholesale exclusion of members of
ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from leadership
roles in the post-invasion Iraq.
"I
think that probably in retrospect, though at the time it was very
difficult to argue this, we could have done de-Baathification in a more
differentiated way than we did," Blair said.
Bush
and Blair also recognized that the Iraq invasion had badly split the
world.
"Deeply
divisive," said Blair while Bush lamented the
"consternation" it had triggered at home.
The
US locked horns with the United Nations and Europe's trio France,
Germany and Belgium over launching war on Iraq without a UN Security
Council resolution.
Former
veteran CIA agent Tyler Drumheller, in an interview with CBS's "60
minutes" broadcast on April 23, revealed that Bush and top White
House officials simply brushed off a CIA assertion that Iraq had no WMDs, saying they were "no longer interested" in intelligence
and that the policy toward Iraq had been already set.
Paul
Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and
South Asia from 2000 to 2005, wrote in the March-April issue of Foreign
Affairs magazine that the White House was "cherry-picking"
information and that "intelligence was misused publicly to justify
decisions already made."
Bush,
however, faulted the intelligence community for the first time last
December, blaming the CIA for the wrong tips.
Duo
in Descent
But
now the pair are dragged down by popular discontent over their Iraq
invasion, making them "Duo in Descent", according to The Washington Post.
Blair's
Labour Party on May 4, suffered its worst defeats since 1997 in local
elections, forcing the British Prime Minister to shake up his Cabinet
amid mounting calls on him to step down.
Bush
has also reshuffled his top aides in an effort to reinvigorate his
sagging popularity.
Both
men are suffering low unpopularity ratings in their home countries,
mostly because of Iraq.
Bush's
rating has sunk to 31 percent largely because of dissatisfaction with
the Iraq war. Blair's rating is now 26 percent at home.
The
British Prime Minister, who is facing mounting calls to step down, is
already viewed in Britain as a lame duck. Bush is also increasingly seen
as a lame duck, even though he has nearly three years left in his term.
The
Bush-Blair partnership has now become an "axis of feeble", as
the Economist magazine put it earlier this month.
"One
of the reasons Blair is unpopular, even in his own party, is because he
has been so close to Bush," Charles Grant, director of the Center
for European Reform in London, told the Post.
The
prime minister is portrayed by British critics as Bush's
"poodle."
Blair
seemed embarrassed Thursday when asked whether this would be his last
trip as prime minister to Washington and what he would miss about his
host.
But
Bush interjected: "I'll miss those red ties is what I'll
miss," before quickly adding "don't count him out".
Blair
decided it would be best not to answer. "You're the British
delegation; ask a few serious questions," he told the British
reporters.
The
two have always been a bit of an odd couple. Bush is a conservative
Texan who speaks inelegant English, while Blair is an eloquent speaker
who promoted the "third way" of politics with former US
president Bill Clinton.
After
their first meeting, when Bush was asked what they had in common, he
replied: "We both use Colgate toothpaste."
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