Speak up for Europe and ask for some restraint
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Your support makes all the difference.The announcement yesterday that Tony Blair is to visit President Bush at Camp David this Saturday ends days of frenzied speculation on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, what was anticipated was a US-British "council of war" to finalise arrangements for an imminent strike on Iraq. There, the speculation was about an approaching high noon between hawks and doves within the Bush administration.
It is unlikely that Saturday's meeting at the US presidential retreat will bear out either of these dramatic predictions. Such informal mini-summits rarely produce sensational headlines. But it is significant that Mr Bush and Mr Blair have decided on a face-to-face meeting rather than extended telephone calls. It says much about the panicky mood in both capitals and suggests a recognition by both leaders that rumour and conjecture about Iraq are on the point of running out of control.
Mr Blair must hope to take from the meeting a clear idea of US intentions. British diplomats have complained for months about the mixed signals emanating from Washington over its "war on terror". In the past two weeks, even usually discreet Whitehall officials have expressed despair as the voices from Washington have become ever more cacophonous. Risking isolation in Europe and unpopularity at home, Mr Blair badly needs to know where Mr Bush stands. He also needs to come away with something that will convince his critics that he is, as he insisted on Tuesday, doing "what is right", rather than trotting behind Mr Bush.
If anything, Mr Bush needs the Camp David meeting even more. Equivocal for most of the summer on military action against Iraq, he has watched his Cabinet tear itself apart and the international coalition that raced to his aid after 11 September desert him. He needs to show America that he does not stand alone.
As the ally of last resort, Mr Blair has a rare opportunity not just to present the British and European perspective, but to ask for something in return for his loyalty. Restraint would be a start, and a second chance for diplomacy.
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