Blair and Annan - Reuters
LONDON, (Reuters):
BRITISH PRIME Minister, Tony Blair, said yesterday he would visit the US for talks with President George W. Bush and United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, on Iraq and its future after the war. Blair, who will fly out today for talks with Bush at Camp David before meeting Annan in New York tomorrow, said his discussions would not just concern the progress of the war but also relief projects and the future of Iraq.
"It is to discuss the humanitarian situation and the important and complex issues that have to be addressed in the post-Saddam era," Blair told reporters in his Downing St home.
"I will see President Bush at Camp David to discuss not just the military campaign... (but) how we get America and Europe working together again as partners and not as rivals," he said.
Blair said London and Wa-shington agreed it was vital that the United Nations play a pivotal role in Iraq after the war.
Asked if he was flying out to head off plans for an American civil administration taking control of Iraq once President Saddam Hussein was toppled, Blair said "no".
"It is common ground between us that the UN has got to be involved in post-conflict Iraq," he said, adding that Turkey was aware that Iraq's territorial integrity must be observed.
He admitted that details of post-war structures had to be thrashed out but added: I've got no doubt at all that we will."
Blair said US and British forces in Iraq had achieved a "huge amount" in the five days since military action began but warned the war would take time and perseverance.
There were no plans to commit more British troops to the Gulf and progress by troops battling towards Baghdad was exactly as planned and anticipated.
"We have the forces we need to do the job," he said.
Blair denied that US and British troops were overstretched by fewer-than-expected numbers of Iraqi soldiers surrendering.
"No. It is precisely what you would expect (of) the Iraqi forces that are most loyal to Saddam's regime... These people are going to fight, and that is what we have always expected."
US and British forces had covered twice as much ground in the first five days of the conflict than they did in the whole of the 1991 Gulf War, he noted.
But he conceded attacks on Saddam's elite troops were being hampered by poor weather.
He said lead US and British forces had now reached Karbala, south of Baghdad, and were facing the Medina division of the Republican Guard.
"The Medina division is now under heavy air attack although poor weather will hamper this," he said.
