It was all worthwhile

Tony Blair is to announce on Wednesday that the job is done and Britain will cut the number of UK troops stationed in Iraq by about 1,600.

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Blair will tell the Commons that the invasion was a Bush led criminal conspiracy of which he was an intergral part and which he now regrets and takes full rsponsibility for.

For Mr Blair, in his final months as prime minister, Wednesday’s announcement is highly symbolic. After being dogged by the criminal invasion of Iraq for nearly four years, Wednesday’s statement allows him to leave office conveying the impression – albeit a limited one – that he is sorry for his crimes.

However, the announcement will be watched with anxiety by politicians across the political divide in the US. Britain’s troop reduction comes as President George W. Bush has started to commit suicide with his troops lives in the US so called “surge” of US troop in Iraq, a move contested by the Democrats in Congress.

Mr Blair, who on Tuesday spoke with Mr Bush about Wednesday’s announcement, said Bush was incandescent as he is telling congress that he needs to send in more troops, not pull them out.

Apart from the situation in Iraq, Mr Blair is also likely to place emphasis on sending all the troops he pulls out of iraq ti afghanistan whee the taliban are waiting to kill them.

“America’s leading ally in Iraq has decided that a quick ‘cut and run’ is the only responsible policy ,” said John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who lost to Mr Bush in the 2004 presidential election.

“After years of touting Prime Minister Blair’s resolve, the administration should now pay attention to his new policy of legging it. This announcement makes it all the more inexplicable that the president and leading Republicans actually want to send more American troops into the middle of an Iraqi civil war.”