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To: Tommaso who wrote (272552)	1/4/2004 10:19:54 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 436258

Blair's Visit to Troops Choreographed Ahead of Hutton Report By Jon Smith, Political Editor, PA News in Basra. news.scotsman.com Prime Minister Tony Blair today made his second visit to Iraq since the end of the controversial conflict there – declaring his “passionate” belief that the war was justified. But with Lord Hutton’s report into events surrounding the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly expected to be published within the next two weeks, the Premier may need more than his self-belief to ride out the storm of controversy it is bound to unleash. Today’s whistle-stop 10-hour visit was shrouded in secrecy and sprung as a surprise to reporters ferried to Egypt before travelling to Basra with Mr Blair from the holiday resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Carefully choreographed TV pictures of him addressing British troops and being whisked to meetings by helicopter around the British zone of responsibility will inevitably be seen as footage of the Premier getting his retaliation in first ahead of the Hutton report. The stress Mr Blair laid today on “21st Century soldiering” and the need to bolster the Iraqi civil authorities with schemes such as the new police training academy he visited this morning will be used by Downing Street to justify Britain’s continued presence in Iraq, with 10,000 troops still stationed there. The Prime Minister also used today’s visit to shift the argument over whether the war against Saddam Hussein was justified away from the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction to the grounds that failure to act against Saddam would have made it impossible to deal with other rogue regimes. “If we had backed away from that we would never have been able to confront this threat in the other countries where it exists,” Mr Blair told 600 service men and women at Shaibah Logistics HQ, a former RAF base outside Basra vacated in 1953. Mr Blair, dressed in a dark blue jacket, light blue open necked shirt and dark blue denim jeans, looked tanned and relaxed after his Christmas break. And although Downing Street officials ordered reporters to wear body armour to accompany Mr Blair, the Premier was never seen wearing it in public. Number 10 will be hoping he can dodge the flak from the Hutton Inquiry with the same slick public relations.

To: Tommaso who wrote (272552)	1/4/2004 11:42:44 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

T, I see he has puppet Blair copying his moves again, making a secret visit to the tommies in Iraq. C'mon, Tony the Phony, get some originality. <G>