Baghdad Diary: Another Planet
As the UK's Tony Blair extols incipient Iraqi democracy from inside the sheltered Green Zone, the security situation outside -- in the "Red Zone" -- further deteriorates, making a mockery of Blair's optimistic prattle.As the UK’s Tony Blair extols incipient Iraqi democracy from inside the sheltered Green Zone, the security situation outside — in the “Red Zone” — further deteriorates, making a mockery of Blair’s optimistic prattle, the BBC’s Andrew North reports from Baghdad.
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Tony Blair came to Baghdad at the weekend, to show support for the Iraqi government.
I covered the UK prime minister’s last visit in late May, when Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was putting the finishing touches to a government of national unity. The situation was bad, but there was hope it might start to turn things round.
Six months on, with possibly as many as 18,000 more Iraqis dead, it is hard to find many optimists now.
Both leaders looked like they were on auto-pilot, saying much the same things they’ve said before.
But as on previous trips, Mr. Blair did not really visit Baghdad. He stopped off for three hours on another planet called the Green Zone, the sprawling fortress housing the U.S. and British embassies and most Iraqi government ministries.
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The president may not want war with Iran, but he does want to push the regime into submission and tout U.S. military dominance to his base.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqi anti-government protesters call on both Iran and America to leave the country.
There's no justification for Qassem Soleimani's assassination, and if we avoid another war in the Middle East, we'll have Tehran to thank.
As a candidate in 2016, he praised war crimes and expressed a desire to commit some of his own. No one can claim surprise or betrayal now.
However Iran chooses to respond to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, America's influence in the region is guaranteed to deteriorate.
Rocket falls near U.S. Embassy in Iraq hours after funeral for Qassem Soleimani at which crowd chants "Death to America, death to Israel."
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