Hasty Diplomacy and Rapid Aging
by Nicola Mitchell

March 29, 2003 -- SYDNEY -- (apj.us) -- So I guess that even if you've been on Mars for the past few days you might have noticed that we're at war.

It has of course all been done Dubya's way and Dubya's way alone.

Much of Europe has acted with outrage at the start of what is already turning out to be a bloody conflict. But for British Prime Minister Tony Blair it is not only the fighting in Iraq that he needs to worry about. As the holder of the highest office in the UK, he also finds himself desperately attempting to build bridges with the rest of Europe while at the same time trying not to isolate himself further from his own Labour party.

Ever since news of the first ariel bombardment of Iraq broke, Tony Blair has been frantically trying to heal the massive diplomatic rift that has established itself between the US, Britain and the rest of Europe, but it isn't proving to be an easy task.

A series of recent EU meetings have demonstrated the tense and strained relationship between Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, with the pair openly avoiding contact with each other as much as possible. But worse still for the prime minister, he is also facing similar revolts much closer to home after party members blasted his backing of the recent attacks, while some, such as the Foreign Office's deputy legal adviser, Elizabeth Wilmhurst, have felt compelled to resign due to issues surrounding the legality of the war without proper United Nations backing.

Such problems were at the forefront of Blair's mind during his latest crisis summit with his old pal George at Camp David, so much so that on the eve of his visit, Blair was forced to plead with both Europe and the US to heal their diplomatic rift over Iraq in order to prevent their once friendly partnership being replaced with a antagonistic rivalry which could prove disastrous.

But despite all the troubles waiting for him at home, the debate will now turn more to focus on what the political future holds for Iraq, an issue on which both Europe and the US hold very differing views.

For Britain's part, Blair and many of his ministers -- such as Claire Short -- believe that the UN should play a key role in the restructuring of Iraq once the war is over. The question now is can Blair convince Bush to go down the United Nations route?

Although Blair claims to have Bush's ear in such matters, you only have to look at the fact the prime minister was told of the initial strikes on Iraq just two hours before they took place --- without prior consultation -- to see that his opinion means little when Bush and his team of cronies set their minds to anything. Moreover, Blair is up against some fierce opposition from hawks inside the White House who are determined to keep the UN out of such matters.

So we will have to wait and see what will come out of this latest Blair-Bush summit.

For now it looks as though the two are still locked in a clear public relations battle to win over a dubious public, using words and phrases such as "liberate" and "working to make peace" to underline their message.

And so while the debate continues, I have a small favour to ask of Bush now that he has had our fearless leader with him for a brief while: can the top man in the White House please take a good look at the man who leads the UK and make a mental note of how knackered he is? Blair must have aged 20 years in the past 3 months as he has continued to trot around the globe selling Smirk's war for him, without sleep and with constant criticism from the public and his own party -- all while Bush has chosen to stay in the confines of Washington.

Perhaps when he has taken stock of this I could also suggest a new agenda for discussion, instead of talking about what the new political set up in Iraq would be. Maybe he could start taking an interest in what we're going to do over here in the UK when our prime minister keels over from a heart attack because he's been busy doing someone else job as well as his own.

Just a suggestion -- but I do hope he'll bear it in mind.