COLUMNISTS It was the end of the affair. There were some valiant protests otherwise: the relationship, we heard, is as special as ever. The White House was perfectly content for Britain to withdraw troops from Iraq just as US reinforcements are surging into Baghdad. Downing Street chimed in that George W. Bush and Tony Blair had talked it all through. President and prime minister were as one. It sounded awfully unconvincing.
The early return of 2,000 British soldiers from southern Iraq, it is fair to say, is technically consistent with the agreed strategy progressively to transfer control of security to Iraqi forces. And Basra, of course, is not Baghdad. Politics, though, reaches beyond detail. The importance of Mr Blair’s announcement this week lay in the symbolism.
