For Blair, Iraq Was No Anomaly

PM takes final questions; queen asks Brown to form government

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair handed his resignation to the queen at 1:15 this afternoon, ending a decade as prime minister of the United Kingdom marked by unprecedented prosperity but marred by a deeply unpopular war in Iraq. In a choreographed ritual, Elizabeth II asked Chancellor Gordon Brown, who has been waiting patiently for the question for 13 years, to form a government. More»

Iran said to be looking for swap deal

(NEWSER) - Tony Blair is furious over Iran's capture of 15 sailors and Marines, but so far, diplomatic efforts have not even yielded where they are being held. “I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us,” Blair sputtered at a European summit, calling the seizure "unjustified and wrong." More»

(NEWSER) - The fifteen British sailors captured by Iran are back in the UK. As soon as the British Airways jet touched down as Heathrow, Blair traded his measured diplomatic tone for harsher words, warning the "elements of the Iranian regime" were still arming insurgents inside Iraq." More»

Mood shifts as the US presence shifts

(NEWSER) - As combat operations wind down , the American troops who remain in Iraq must come to terms with a new reality: What was once, in some minds at least, a war of liberation, is now a mostly a training and diplomatic mission. “It’s almost not worth the trip,” one soldier tells the New York Times . "It’s more politics now.” The shift is leading many soldiers to reflect on a war that for some had purpose, that for others did not. In a lengthy piece, the Times collects the thoughts of many, who it calls veterans of not one but four wars: the shock and awe invasion, the sectarian conflict, the 2007 surge, Obama's "denouement." More»

Ex-prime minister to be questioned on WMDs, promises to Bush

(NEWSER) - The decision to send British troops to join the US invasion of Iraq was by far the most controversial of Tony Blair's leadership, and his place in history may depend on how well he defends it today. The former prime minister will face 6 hours of grilling from inquisitors about when he committed Britain to the war, whether or not he manipulated intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, and if he strong-armed his attorney general into declaring the war legal. More»