[PEN-L:36250] Rumsfeld's enemies are circling - BBC

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

apart from the latest massacre by the invading forces, the main story on
the BBC on Friday evening was to amplify the growing questions in the USA
about the initial Pentagon strategy. This news story is probably being
helped on a little by UK government off the record briefings.

The tv showed shots of increasingly sceptical faces of US reporters (but no
actual shift in the editorial content of US papers yet) Rumsfeld's latest
outburst against Syria and Iran was portrayed as more a sign of weakness
and instability than a sign that the US will prevail.

The BBC commentator observed of Rumsfeld,  "now his enemies are circling",
hinting the BBC would be ready to get its share of the carrion.

On the theme of whether the whole strategy of the war was miscalculated by
the unilateralist, the BBC quoted a senior person in the UK ministry of
defence saying "We will win, but it won't be quick".

Britain is in for the long haul, and Friday morning the Downing Street
correspondent suggested presumably after official briefings that the most
valuable part of Blair's trip was his meeting with Kofi Annan. This lasted
two hours, and was about the technical details of getting humanitarian aid
in to Iraq.

Later on Friday Putin was reported as saying Russia was willing to
contribute to "frank" discussions about humanitarian aid.

Blair does not expect to be the fall guy, and at the moment Rumsfeld could
be very convenient.

Expect a lightly-armoured tactically-agile diplomatic move from a sincerely
anguished Tony Blair within the next two weeks at the latest. After all, he
signalled at his press conference with Bush, when he accepted the idea of
US administration of a liberated Iraq, there is no point in engaging in
megaphone diplomacy. But Bush probably did not understand what he meant.

Chris Burford
London