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POLITICS: USA
Bush and Blair admit Iraq errors
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush have made a stark public acknowledgement that they made mistakes in Iraq. President Bush said the biggest US error was the prison abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib, which it was now paying for. The two leaders have never admitted their mistakes in such frank terms. They also called for the international community to give its full support to the new Iraqi government. In a Washington news conference, the British prime minister said it was important to Iraq's leaders to know that "we will stand firm with them" against "terrorism and violence". The talks in Washington also focused on Iran, with President Bush offering rewards for Tehran if it ends uranium enrichment. Both men have seen their popularity drop and are keen to ensure a positive legacy as their terms draw to a close, correspondents say. Iraq has cast a shadow over the leaders' careers and both were seeking to play up the potential for change afforded by the new democratically-elected government in Baghdad. Asked about mistakes in Iraq, Mr Bush brought up the prisoner abuse scandal at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. "We've been paying for that for a long period of time," he said. He also said he regretted having used unsophisticated language such as "Wanted dead or alive", which had been misinterpreted in some parts of the world. US president was full of introspection after frequently being criticized for lacking powers of self-analysis. Mr. Blair, who held talks with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad this week, was also prepared to acknowledge errors, accepting that the exclusion of all of Saddam Hussein's Baath party members from leadership roles may have only fuelled the insurgency. But both men remained convinced that they had done the right thing in Iraq. Mr. Blair said: "I came away thinking the challenge is still immense, but I also came away thinking more certain than ever that we should rise to it." That challenge, he said, was "daunting... but inspiring". Whatever people's misgivings about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he said, "our duty, but also the duty of the whole international community, is to get behind this government and support it". However, neither man would set a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Iran warning: They also discussed Iran's nuclear program, and its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. The US suspects Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, although Tehran says its work is for peaceful, energy purposes.
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Cheney 'may testify' in leak case
Lewis Libby is accused of lying to investigators. US Vice-President Dick Cheney could be called to testify in the CIA leak case involving ex-chief of staff Lewis Libby, a US prosecutor said President Bush said the US would continue to work with Iran's government despite its "intransigence" but urged it to suspend enrichment to avoid international isolation. The leaders meet again on Friday after Mr. Blair's foreign policy speech at Georgetown University. In his speech, the UK leader is expected to focus on the values of democracy and reform of the post-World War II institutions, such as the UN and International Monetary Fund. Mr. Blair has pledged to resign before his third term ends, which will be in May 2010 at the latest. President Bush leaves office in 2009. The prime minister was given wholehearted support by the president, however. Asked by a journalist what Mr. Bush wanted to see in Mr. Blair's successor, Mr. Bush replied: "I want him to be here so long as I'm president." Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald said Mr. Cheney's state of mind was "directly relevant" to the case, in a pre-trial document filed to a Washington court. He said Mr. Cheney could give evidence on notes he wrote on a copy of a newspaper article linked to the case. Mr. Libby faces charges in connection with the leak of an agent's identity. Mr. Libby, whose trial is not due to begin till next year, denies five charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice. The identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame was leaked in 2003. Her husband Joseph Wilson, a former diplomat, had criticized US Iraq war policy and wrote the New York Times opinion piece cited by the prosecutor shortly before the leak. Mr. Fitzgerald is investigating whether administration officials broke the law by deliberately disclosing her identity. Mr. Libby is accused of lying to FBI investigators and a grand jury about how and when he learned that Ms. Plame was a CIA officer and of lying about disclosing classified information to reporters. In the court filing - which does not state categorically whether Mr. Cheney will testify - Mr. Fitzgerald said Mr. Libby has acknowledged that he and the vice-president had discussed Mr. Wilson's article. "Here as defendant has acknowledged, the vice-president communicated to defendant the facts he considered notable, and also directed defendant to get out to the public 'all' the facts in response to the Wilson Op Ed," he wrote in the court filing. "Contrary to [Mr. Libby's] assertion, the government has not represented that it does not intend to call the vice-president as a witness at trial," Mr. Fitzgerald said in answering a request by Mr. Libby for more documents on the case. Mr. Libby's lawyers had suggested in the request Mr. Cheney would be irrelevant as a witness in the trial. Mr. Libby "shared the interests of his superior and was subject to his direction. Therefore, the state of mind of the vice-president as communicated to defendant is directly relevant to the issue of whether defendant knowingly made false statements to federal agents," the prosecutor said in the filing. Mr. Cheney wrote on the article: "Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an ambassador [Joseph Wilson] to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife [Valerie Plame] send him on a junket?" Mr. Wilson had been sent to Niger in 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq had bought or had sought to buy uranium there.
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Mr. Blair and Mr.
Bush have both seen their popularity fall.