Blair, Bush planning joint trip to Baghdad: report

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040516/wl_afp/iraq_britain_us_040516115517

Blair, Bush planning joint trip to Baghdad: report

1 hour, 26 minutes ago Add World - AFP to My Yahoo!

LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) and US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) are planning to make a joint trip to Baghdad in a bid to quell the spiralling scandal over prisoner abuse, the British Sunday Mirror tabloid reported.

A Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on the report Sunday, saying only that the two allies in the war in Iraq (news - web sites) talk "every day."

Bush and Blair will travel to the Iraqi capital in separate planes, escorted by fighter jets, said the Sunday Mirror, the weekly version of the Daily Mirror, which was forced Friday to offer an abject apology for publishing fake photographs purporting to show British soldiers humiliating an Iraqi prisoner.

The Sunday Mirror report came as the scandal over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US and British forces continued to widen.

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[maddezmom]

1. can you say "photo op"?

:puke: Trying to rally the "troops"? or the voters?

[madrchsod]

3. ahhhhh ,isn`t love grand

no it not a photo op it`s their second honeymoon..honeymoon in bagdad. isn`t true love just wonderful.....

[aquart]

5. Well, I thought "opportunity."

I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking "photo op."

[MaineDem]

2. Interesting that they announce this in advance

Even Rummy went in secret.

Photo ops for re-election for sure.

Edited for spelling.

[bemildred]

4. Yeah, I was thinking that too.

Time to get out the SAMs and position them around the airport.
I wonder how much effort will go into providing security for
this little boondoggle.

[pop goes the weasel]

6. Considering the intrusion into civil liberties

that takes place here in the US when a president visits, I can only imagine that Baghdad will be completely shut down. The prospects are that this stunt will only put * and the Poodle more deeply into the hole. I don't see it helping them at all.

[Frances]

7. I agree

Someone should ask them why they aren't going to Fallejah (sp?)? I heard a Repub spinmaster on CNN say that this city was now quiet. Let's find out if it's quiet because it's not safe for Americans or if it's quiet because Americans agreed not to go there anymore.

[Neshanic]

8. "Ishtar", watch a monkey serve a plastic PM....hilarity ensues

[struggle4progress]

15. It might be time to update that old children's jingle ...

about the body-snatching serial killers Burke and Hare: something along the lines of

Up the close and down the stair,
In the house with Bush and Blair.
Blair's the poodle, Bush the thief,
Inhofe helps them hide the beef ...

[goforit]

19. Tooo funny...........LOL!!!

Two little boys.........."let's go play Cowboys and Indians"

[Don_G]

9. Where Are They Going To Get

Another 100,000 troops it will take to guard their a**es?

[DancingBear]

10. No one is asking the BIG question here!

What banner will they put up??

[goforit]

20. Bored while in Irag?.....Follow Rummy's orders: TRY KINKY S&M

Perversion at it's highest helm!!!!

[daa]

11. Can anybody say Woof Woof? nt

[Spazito]

12. The tipping point has already been reached, imo...

this will be looked at in the same way as bush in his flight suit and mission accomplished banner, his turkey visit; a photo op for the two most hated men in the world and a very stupid idea. It only emphasizes their desperation, imo.

[MO_Dem]

23. Yeah, I wonder

which uniform they'll dress up in this time? Or maybe they'll wear Iraqi clothing to show their love and support? Bring some little Iraqi children onto AF 1 and read them a story? Blech!

[struggle4progress]

13. Well, this is gonna cost the American taxpayers a bundle --

though I guess all the free press coverage will be a nice gift to the Bush campaign.

On the other hand, maybe Bush&Blair will stay there ...

[MaineDem]

14. I hope he returns safely

We don't need a martyr...or an injury.

[struggle4progress]

16. I don't think anybody's going to get near them, starting with ...

any US soldier who doesn't support * 100%. They'll pull the same screening games they played at Thanksgiving. And there'll be a mile-thick wall of military around B&B wherever they go.

[oneighty]

22. they will make sure

the military have no bullets, as always.

180

[ithacan]

17. may they both get what they deserve

Namely: Massive anti-bush and anti-blair protests by Iraqis and by American troops (though I realize the latter is highly unlikely), rotten tomatoes and filthy water pitched at them, snubbing by any and all Iraqis...

they are both disgraces to their respective countries.

[goforit]

18. Two birds with one ................

Go ahead and finish this.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

21. More people will die because of this photo-op. Count on it. n/t

[Occulus]

24. My only question is

how many.

It's a mess there already; a big mess, and the supreme authors of that mess are going to be there. If there were ever a time for a terrorist faction which has wormed its way into Iraq to use a Big Gun, this would be it.

I'm nervous about this. And, were anything at all like That to happen, it would be a perfect excuse for martial law here and the cancellation of elections. Cheney would be in charge.

That thought gives me the screaming horrors.

[PfcHammer]

25. assuming this story is real, this is a bad idea. between now and

their arrival, every evildoer in the ME will be
converging on Iraq for a "terra Woodstock" with
B&B the opening act. very risky, unwarranted, and
imprudent at this juncture.