Ready to get hands dirty on W. Asia: Blair

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 2. After a bruising visit to West Asia, which commentators described as his toughest so far, the British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, returned home this morning to be greeted by criticism that his high-wire diplomacy was beginning to pall even as his officials insisted that its success should not be judged by what was said in public.

The widespread perception as he prepared to visit Washington next week to brief the U.S. President, Mr. George W Bush was that his 7,000-mile journey across the Arab world and Israel had been a ``waste'' with even tea and sympathy in short supply. ``Mauled in Syria, Frustrated in Israel'' is how a newspaper headline summed up the visit.

The Times warned of the risks that Mr. Blair was running by undertaking journeys that were leading him nowhere. ``To be seen to get nowhere is dangerous. Mr. Blair appears like a driven man. He needs to be sure that he is husbanding his authority - and that of the United Kingdom - for times that may be harder than these,'' it said. The Guardian termed it as a ``depressing'' visit marked by a string of frosty encounters, including a ``public dressing down'' he got from the Syrian President, Mr. Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

``Mr. Blair was confronted time after time on his visit to Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and Gaza with the grim reality of Middle East politics,'' The Guardian said. Mr. Blair had been clearly frustrated by the ``mission impossible'', it said. Officials, however, defended the visit arguing that nobody had expected it to yield instant results.

They said the idea was to establish a ``dialogue'' with key leaders in the region and the Prime Minister had succeeded in doing that. ``What is said in public is not necessarily the best indication of what is said in private,'' a senior official was quoted as saying. It was also claimed that the visit had produced a ``wealth of unseen achievements, particularly in Saudi Arabia,'' according to The Daily Telegraph. One Minister reportedly told The Independent that the visit had been a ``presentational nightmare'' but insisted that it had been ``worth it''. ``We have got to show that we have not forgotten the Middle East if we are to keep the Arab nations on our side,'' he said.

Mr. Blair answered his critics by pointing out that it was important to keep the dialogue going. The message was: stand aside or get your hands dirty. And he preferred to get his hands dirty than let the situation drift.

However, he acknowledged that the situation was difficult and when asked specifically about the possibility of a breakthrough in Israel-Palestine talks, his guarded response was: ``I think that is possible. I wouldn't put it any higher than that.'' Mr. Blair's visit to Washington at the invitation of Mr. Bush is seen as the ``clearest sign yet'', The Times remarked, that the U.S. intended to re- engage in the peace efforts in West Asia and that Mr. Blair's meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat, was meant to look at the ``lie of the land''.

The anti-war sentiment at home continued to assert itself with 11 Labour MPs voting against the war during a debate in the Commons on Thursday. For the first time, the Tories questioned the strategy in Afghanistan saying lack of clear aims had started to alienate even those who supported the military action.

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Section  : International
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