Blair Blasts Seizure of British Patrol

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»

Brooks: War he co-authored was a disaster, but consistent with his values

(NEWSER) - As Tony Blair prepares his exit from No. 10, the British left is already eulogizing the PM as a good man consigned by circumstance to a bad war. Not so, says David Brooks: The crux of Blair's political philosophy was a radical, religious communitarianism, which sired both his leftist leanings domestically, and a genuinely felt interventionism in Iraq. 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»

Experts say there is no clear border between Iran and Iraqi waters

(NEWSER) - London and Tehran and ratcheted up the rhetoric over the 15 British soldiers being held captive in Iran yesterday, the LA Times reports: Britain got the UN Security Council to issue a statement of "grave concern," while Tehran released more video of sailors professing guilt and issued charts and satellite readings to prove UK ships crossed into their waters six times. More»

It brokered the coalition between Nouri Al-Maliki, Muqtada al-Sadr

(NEWSER) - Iran was behind the recently struck deal between Nouri al-Maliki and Muqtada al-Sadr, and the result could be an Iraqi government friendly to Tehran and distanced from the West, the Guardian reports. According to the paper's sources, Syria, Hezbollah, and top Shia religious leaders were involved with a secret campaign to unite the two leaders' parties, making Maliki the frontrunner to return as prime minister. Iran pushed Sadr to embrace Maliki after the last American combat troops departed Iraq. More»