Bush eyes Blair for Mideast peace role!

[thorosius]

He is a very strong candidate for this postion. Afterall Bush must have taken into account Blairs contribution to world peace in previous years.

Bush eyes Blair for Mideast peace role.

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
2 hours, 20 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - President Bush has talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about taking a role as a Middle East peace envoy after he leaves office next week. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the State Department's top diplomat for the Middle East, talked with Blair in London on Wednesday, while the White House and State Department spoke glowingly about the prime minister's credentials but said there was nothing to announce yet.


Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also expressed support for Blair playing a role in the Middle East.

"Officials in the prime minister's office are aware of this idea and Prime Minister Olmert is very supportive of Prime Minister Blair and of his continuing involvement in the Middle East and the peace process," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.

Blair steps down next Wednesday.

"Obviously Prime Minister Blair has been very active and deeply involved in Middle East peace issues throughout his prime ministership," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

She said Blair and Bush speak often. "It would not surprise me if they have talked about what Prime Minister Blair would like to do following the end of his term ... but we don't have anything to announce today," Perino said.

James Wolfensohn, a former president of the World Bank, stepped down in April as international Mideast envoy for the Quartet of peacemakers — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia. The position envisioned for Blair was said to be an enhanced version of that role.

Members of the Quartet may meet in Paris next week, although Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has a scheduling conflict and the meeting could be postponed.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack would not say whether the United States wants Blair to take the job, but indicated there is a need for a new Mideast envoy.

That person would work to help the Palestinians strengthen their political and economic systems and institutions in preparation for an eventual independent Palestinian state, McCormack said.

"So there is this idea out there of, 'can we identify a person that could fulfill those functions?'" McCormack said. "I think that the idea has some merit. ... But as for particular individuals, at this point I'm certainly not going to get into it."

Separately, a senior State Department official said that although U.S. officials have explored the job possibility with Blair, those discussions are not yet at the point of a job offer. That could come after further discussions among the four Quartet members, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.

Blair's office refused comment.

During his tenure, Wolfensohn helped negotiate several agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. They included transferring control of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza to the Palestinians, a deal to improve the flow of goods in and out of Gaza and the purchase of dozens of greenhouses from Israeli settlers for Palestinian use.

These efforts, however, hit repeated obstacles, and in some cases the agreements were not honored.

The Quartet has called on Hamas, the Islamic militant movement, to renounce violence, recognize Israel and honor past peace agreements. Hamas has rejected these demands.

___

AP reporters Anne Gearan and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_blair

 

[thorosius]

On the other hand Scots think a bit differently.

Call for Scotland to try Blair as 'war criminal'

IAN SWANSON
SCOTTISH POLITICAL EDITOR (iswanson@edinburghnews.com)
SCOTLAND'S Lord Advocate was today urged to prosecute Tony Blair as a war criminal for the invasion of Iraq.

Former MP Jim Sillars said he had written to Elish Angiolini with a 10,000-word document setting out a formal complaint against the Prime Minister.

And he said Scots law allowed Mr Blair to be put on trial despite such a move being ruled out south of the Border.

The move came as Westminster Tories called for an immediate inquiry into the war in Iraq in a move expected to cause a Labour backbench rebellion. Shadow foreign secretary William Hague was using a Commons debate to call for a hearing by senior politicians with powers to summon officials and military commanders.

Mr Sillars, who is married to independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald, claimed Mr Blair was guilty of conspiracy with others to wage aggressive war, and waging aggressive war against the state of Iraq in March 2003, contrary to international law and the law of Scotland.

In his letter to the Lord Advocate, he said: "I am requesting you to investigate this complaint and prosecute in a Scottish court."

Mr Sillars emphasised that despite his political past - first as a Labour MP and then as SNP MP and deputy leader - the complaint against Mr Blair was based on legal principles and case law and was not a political initiative.

He told Ms Angiolini in the letter: "You will find that the research is sound, and that the case against Tony Blair is a strong one. You, of course, will be able to dig wider and deeper than I can as an ordinary citizen, and I am sure that when you do you will reach the same conclusion as contained in the complaint."

Mr Sillars said it was generally believed that Mr Blair could not be indicted for war crimes over Iraq.

But Mr Sillars claimed Scotland's High Court had "declaratory powers" which enabled it to embrace international crimes in Scots law.

He said: "I have spent since January of this year, with a break for the election, researching the case against Blair and whether he could be indicted through the Scottish criminal justice system. The complaint lodged with the Lord Advocate shows the conclusion to that effort. Blair can, in my opinion, be tried in a Scottish court; and the evidence of his conspiracy through deception, lies and misinformation, and his intention of committing the illegal act of regime change through aggressive war, is quite clear. "

Mr Sillars said the Prime Minister had carried on because he felt immune from prosecution.

Mr Hague said today that the presence of UK soldiers in Iraq could not be used as an excuse to "indefinitely postpone" the inquiry. He wants an investigation along the lines of the wide-ranging inquiry into the Falklands War chaired by philosopher Oliver Franks.

Downing Street has said it will hold a probe into the war and the faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction, but not while UK troops are in the country.

And Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is expected to dismiss the call, arguing there have already been four inquiries into various aspects of the war and that another one would distract from the efforts of troops on the ground.


http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=912232007