Blair departs for talks with UN
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was tonight heading to New York for talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan after a two-day summit with President George W Bush at Camp David.
Mr Blair said it was now “urgent” for the UN to be poised to restart its oil for food programme to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq.
The talks, due to last an hour, were taking place at the UN Plaza, hours after Mr Blair and Mr Bush rounded off their talks on how the war should now be waged and the future for Iraq and the Middle East with a news conference.
They pledged to wage war against Saddam Hussein for “however long it takes” to topple his regime.
And both leaders condemned the “execution” of two British soldiers as evidence of the “depravity” of Saddam’s rule.
Mr Blair said the killings were “beyond the comprehension of anyone with an ounce of humanity in their souls”.
Mr Bush, quizzed on how long the campaign would last answered simply: “However long it takes to win.”
The President went on: “However long it takes to achieve our objective. And that’s important for you to know, the American people to know, our allies to know and the Iraqi people to know.
“This isn’t a matter of timetables, it’s a matter of victory. And the Iraqi people have got to know that, see?
“They will be liberated and Saddam Hussein will be removed, no matter how long it takes.”
Mr Blair echoed: “We will carry on till the job is done. There is absolutely no point in trying to set a time limit or speculate on it, because it’s not set by time. It’s set by the nature of the job.”
The Prime Minister went on: “Day by day we have seen the reality of Saddam’s regime. His thugs prepared to kill their own people, the parading of prisoners of war and now the release of those pictures of executed British soldiers.
“If anyone needed any further evidence of the depravity of Saddam’s regime, this atrocity provides it. It is yet one more flagrant breach of all the proper conventions of war.
“More than that, to the families of the soldiers involved, it is an act of cruelty beyond comprehension.
“Indeed, it is beyond the comprehension of anyone with an ounce of humanity in their souls.”
