Bush salutes Blair in final farewell

[quinnox]

WASHINGTON - To the last, neither
George Bush nor
Tony Blair wavered.


The British prime minister allowed not a single regret about the war alliance that cost him his popularity and perhaps his job. The U.S. president, losing his best friend on the world stage, bristled at suggestions Blair should already be out the door.

"Trying to do a tap dance on his political grave, aren't you?" Bush said Thursday at Blair's side in the White House Rose Garden, admonishing British reporters looking beyond Blair's tenure six weeks before he leaves office. "You don't understand how effective Blair is, I guess."

Bush's reluctance to see the British leader go is understandable. For Bush, Blair has been a steadfast friend for over six years, an articulate and impassioned defender of the U.S.-led war in
Iraq.

The British prime minister has been a presence in Bush's presidency like no other leader.

...

Wildly popular when he returned his Labour Party to power 10 years ago, Blair was eventually derided as the American leader's poodle.

"Sometimes it's a controversial relationship — at least over in my country," he said Thursday. "I have taken the view that Britain should stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America after Sept. 11. I have never deviated from that view. I do not regret that view."

Bush was asked if he was responsible for Blair's political downfall. "Could be," he said candidly.

But, the president added: "I have enjoyed working with Tony Blair more than I could have possibly imagined."