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Tue Apr 8 19:03:25 2003
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Bush Blair Iraq
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=Bush+Blair+Iraq&btnG=Search 

Bush, Blair Emphasize Areas Of Agreement On Post-War Iraq
By Mike Wendling
CNSNews.com London Bureau Chief
April 08, 2003
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=/ForeignBureaus/archive/200304/FOR20030408d.html

London (CNSNews.com) - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair presented a united front over the running of a post-war Iraq at a news conference Tuesday.

Speaking in Belfast at the start of a second day of talks, the two leaders said they were committed to handing control of the country over to Iraqis as soon as possible.

"This new government will not be run either by us (the coalition) or by the United Nations," Blair said. "This is a false choice."

"The key is that Iraq in the end should be governed by the Iraqi people," he said.

Bush said that when it comes to reconstructing the country, the coalition was "committed to working with international institutions, including the United Nations."

Bush said the U.N. had a "vital role" to play, not only in providing humanitarian aid but also in managing the political transition to an elected government.

When pressed about what exactly that role may be, Bush emphasized humanitarian aspects including "food, medicine, aid," and also said the U.N. will help "to stand up an interim authority, but the Iraqi people are responsible for who is on that authority."

In a joint statement, the leaders said: "The day when Iraqis govern themselves must come quickly ... As early as possible, we support the formation of an Iraqi interim authority."

"The interim authority will be broad-based and fully representative, with members from all Iraq's ethnic groups, regions, and diaspora ... with the help of the members of the coalition, and working with the Secretary General of the United Nations."

The leaders also touched on the Middle East peace process and repeated a pledge to publish a regional "road map" once a Palestinian cabinet is in place.

"Being here in Northern Ireland makes me more firm in my belief that peace is possible," Bush said.

The president said he was strongly in favor of a new plan for Northern Ireland to be published this week. Blair and his counterpart in the Irish Republic, Bertie Ahern, hope to restart negotiations towards a final peace settlement with the plan.

Bush, Blair and Ahern will meet later Tuesday with top officials from Northern Ireland's main political parties.

"In the meeting this afternoon, I will urge Northern Ireland's political leaders to adopt this plan as their own," Bush said. "This is an historic moment."

The province's regional legislature was suspended last fall after arguments over alleged spying by the Irish Republican Army. If talks resume, new elections could be held as early as next month.

At the press conference, Bush was also asked by a reporter whether air strikes against a residential neighborhood last night in Baghdad had killed Saddam Hussein.

He replied: "I don't know whether he survived ... I know that he's losing power."

Blair said: "In all parts of the country our power is strengthening, the regime is weakening and Iraqi people are turning towards us."
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France hails Bush-Blair statement on UN role in Iraq
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030408194910.1110gsry.html

The following articles and links are available at www.sovereignty.org.uk  in
the NEWSROUND section.
http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/siteinfo/newsround/newsround.html

- REGULARLY UPDATED IRAQ WAR PAGE: Regular updating of items which pertain
to the current conflict ... Gulf War 2 and Related.

- MORE ON THE WHO AND THE WHY BEHIND THE WAR: "Friedman laughs: I could give
you the names of 25 people (all of whom are at this moment within a
five-block radius of this office) who, if you had exiled them to a desert
island a year and a half ago, the Iraq war would not have happened."

- THERE'S NO GUN CONTROL IN IRAQ: Some Iraqis prepared for the possibility
of a US-led war against their country by stocking up on firearms. "One of
the busiest stores we spotted last weekend was World of Guns, where people
were standing in line for weapons - no background check required." As
regards the right to keep and bear arms, the Iraqis should be liberating us!
Strange dictatorship that!

- CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM AND ZIONIST IMPERIALISM: Predominant amongst the
US administration's war planners are a clique of neo-conservatives driven by
Biblical fundamentalism or Zionist imperialism.

- THINK TANKS BEHIND US MIDDLE EAST POLICY: This article helps to illuminate
the incestuous group of politicians, journalists and Think Tanks who are
behind current US Middle East policy. Includes links to the "Project for the
New American Century" letter urging President CLINTON to adopt a strategy
which "should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from
power." And urging him to "act now to end the threat of weapons of mass
destruction against the U.S. or its allies". Something which "now needs to
become the aim of American foreign policy."

- WAR PROPAGANDA FOR BEGINNERS: Alistair McConnachie argues that the "good
versus evil" notion is the simplistic excuse used to disguise the exercise
of raw power in pursuit of a political agenda. Such moralisers ignore the
fact that a regime change will bring horrific civil war and retribution.
Includes article on the subject by Dr Burhan M al-Chalabi.

- DID SADDAM "GAS HIS OWN PEOPLE"?: Stephen C. Pelletiere, the CIA's senior
political analyst on Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, says that the US Defense
Intelligence Agency report of the incident asserts that the Kurds were
gassed by the Iranians, not the Iraqis. Yet this story continues to
circulate because it is convenient war propaganda in the absense of any
other compelling reason to attack Iraq.

Also, don't miss the Cover Story of this week's New Statesman magazine, 7
April 2003 - "The Weird Men Behind George W. Bush's War", which reveals "the
bizarre story of how neoconservatives took over Washington and steered the
US into a Middle Eastern war unrelated to any plausible threat to the US and
opposed by the public of every country in the world except Israel."

Or the March 2003 issue of SOVEREIGNTY where Alistair McConnachie argues for
opposition to the Iraq War from the principle of national sovereignty: No
Foreign Wars for Foreign Interests. Twelve issues available for £15 payable
to SOVEREIGNTY, at 268 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4JR.