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| The Alliance |
| Blair takes it on the chin in Syria |
| 2001-10-31 |
Prime Minister Tony Blair has learned at first hand and in the bluntest of terms the extent of Arab anger over the bombing campaign against Afghanistan. At the start of a bruising Middle East diplomatic mission, he stood next to President Bashar Assad as the Syrian leader denounced the raids for causing "hundreds" of civilian casualties - to applause from local officials and reporters. It was Mr Blair's first face-to-face confrontation with the controversy caused by the US and UK campaign, although aides insisted later he had expected President Assad to restate his well-known hostility to the bombing. Mr Blair acknowledged he had risked controversy by beginning his latest round of talks in Damascus, the capital of Syria, a state accused of harbouring some of the most extreme terror groups in the region. At the moment, Syria isn't a part of the central objective; it's a side issue to us in the same sense that al Qaeda is to the Israelis. Bush and Blair would be well-advised to put all the Arab countries, and especially the secular Arab countries, further down their list of concerns. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |