British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush walk down the Colonnade at the White House following the conclusion of their joint news conference in the Rose Garden (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
"It's a political year, everything I'm going to say, they're going to say is political," said President Bush in a Rose Garden news conference with Tony Blair Friday. "We're standing firm on our word because it's right, and it's in the long-term interests of our countries." AP reports:
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, standing united on two turbulent fronts, endorsed giving the United Nations broad control over Iraq's political future Friday and said a much-criticized Israeli settlement withdrawal plan is a solid move toward Mideast peace.
"It was never going to be easy and it isn't now," said the British leader, a strong supporter of Bush's strategies in Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere despite harsh criticism and even ridicule at home.
Palestinian and other Arab leaders have been outraged that Bush endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's strategy to keep Jewish settlements on the West Bank and refuse Palestinian refugees the right to return to Israel, a fundamental shift in American policy.
Bush called on the Palestinian people to do their part by finding "leadership that is committed to peace and hope." The administration refuses to deal with Yasser Arafat.
On Iraq, they said any retreat from the planned June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis would be unthinkable:
Bush said of the Iraqis, "If they believe that we'll cut and run, in other words, if times get tough, we'll just say, 'See you later,' nobody is going to take a stand for freedom and liberty."
The leaders, hoping to put a more international face on the U.S.- and British-dominated coalition, warmly welcomed a work-in-progress proposal from U.N. Iraq envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on transferring sovereignty.
Brahimi envisions a caretaker government led by a prime minister, with a president as head of state, two vice presidents and a conference to create a consultative assembly with no legislative powers. The envoy is due to report his plan to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, then return to Baghdad for more talks.
Given the Oil-for-Food scandal -- under investigation here and in Iraq, as well as by the U.N. itself -- many Iraqis neither trust nor respect the U.N. Our endorsement of U.N. involvement has been called a fig leaf to appease domestic and international critics who continue to accuse the Coalition of the Willing of the dread "unilateralism." Fig leaf or not, these two great leaders have the cojones to get the job done.
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