[southnews] Did Bush force British Minister out?
Dave Muller
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Two London papers have speculated this weekend that complaints by
President George W. Bush forced a British minister from his post because
of his opposition to the use of nuclear force against Iran.
The Independent suggests that a phone call from the U.S. president to
British Prime Minister Tony Blair led to the removal of Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw Friday.
"Jack Straw's fate was sealed in a phone call from the White House to
Tony Blair last month, according to the former foreign secretary's friends.
"They say President George Bush was furious that Mr. Straw said it was
'nuts' to use nuclear weapons against Iran, an option reported to be
under active consideration in Washington.
Did Bush Force British Minister Out?
May 7, 2006(CBS/AP) Two London papers have speculated this weekend that
complaints by President George W. Bush forced a British minister from
his post because of his opposition to the use of nuclear force against Iran.
The Independent suggests that a phone call from the U.S. president to
British Prime Minister Tony Blair led to the removal of Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw Friday.
The newspaper reports that friends of Straw believe Mr. Bush was
extremely upset when Straw pronounced any use of nuclear weapons against
Iran "nuts."
Both The Independent and the Guardian write that Straw's "fate was
sealed" after a White House phone call to Blair.
Straw played a key role in more than two years of talks between Tehran
and the European trio of Britain, France and Germany aimed at resolving
the standoff over Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations broke down
earlier this year when Iran said it was resuming its uranium enrichment
activities.
With the confrontation likely to grind on, Straw appeared more reluctant
than Blair to consider military action and may have been unwilling to
put aside such differences a second time.
Blair and Straw denied they disagreed on Iran, both said no one was
talking about an attack on Iran.
Blair reshuffled his Cabinet Friday, a day after his Labour Party took a
pounding in local elections. The Labour Party pulled 26 percent of the
vote to the Conservatives 40 percent, a result that renewed calls from
some quarters for the prime minister to step down.
Straw, 59, regularly described military action against Tehran as
"inconceivable," a word neither Blair nor U.S. leaders would use.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Straw called
reports that Washington had contingency plans for a tactical nuclear
strike "completely nuts."
Straw said Britain would not launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran and he
was as "certain as he could be" that neither would the United States. He
said he has a high suspicion that Iran is developing a civil nuclear
capability that in turn could be used for nuclear weapons, but there is
"no smoking gun" to prove it and rationalize abandoning the plodding
diplomatic process.
"The reason why we're opposed to military action is because it's an
infinitely worse option and there's no justification for it," Straw said.
Straw came to his job as Britain's foreign secretary with little
experience in international relations, just months before the Sept. 11
attacks opened a new era in world affairs.
He played a central role in making the case for war in Iraq and has
struggled since to help stabilize the country. But he privately
questioned whether the U.S.-led invasion was wise, according to the
so-called "Downing Street memos" leaked last year.
The Foreign Office, home to Britain's foreign policy mandarins, has
always tussled with the prime minister for control over decision-making
on international affairs. Blair, for whom foreign policy has been a
central concern, may have felt Straw was too sympathetic to the
diplomats' preference for negotiated solutions and wary of his own
tougher stance and that of his close ally, Mr. Bush.
"Jack Straw was a little more skeptical about the Iraq war than Tony
Blair," said Martin Bright, political editor at the left-leaning New
Statesman magazine. "Also Jack Straw was a focus of power in the
(Labour) Party, he had his own power base, he was a potential rival to
the prime minister."
Straw now becomes leader of the House of Commons and takes
responsibility for overhauling the House of Lords and campaign finance
reform, two big issues. The parliamentary post, a clear demotion, was
also where his predecessor, Robin Cook, was parked after Blair replaced
him with Straw in June 2001.
Margaret Beckett, formerly environment secretary, will head the foreign
office, becoming the first woman to hold the job.
She has no foreign policy background beyond her participation in
international talks on global warming, but is an experienced politician
deeply loyal to Blair.
The foreign secretary's reservations about invading Iraq featured
prominently in the Downing Street memos, written in 2002 and leaked last
year.
Straw wrote in a memo to Blair that he would have a tough time
convincing the Labour Party that a pre-emptive strike against Iraq was
legal under international law.
"We have also to answer the big question: what will this action
achieve?" he wrote. "There seems to be a larger hole in this than on
anything."
Nonetheless, he filled his role as the public face of Britain's foreign
policy and had warm relationships with successive U.S. secretaries of
state, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Rice's farewell call
to Straw "was from her perspective, I think, a bittersweet call. ... She
had no better or closer colleague than Jack Straw."
Straw, known as a canny politician, counted his role in helping Turkey
start entry negotiations with the European Union last year as one of his
proudest achievements in office. He said building close ties with the
moderate Muslim nation was crucial to encouraging it to remain friendly
to the West rather than turning to extremism.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/07/politics/printable1596108.shtml
________________________________________
The Washington connection: Did Bush stick the knife into Jack Straw?
US neocons are delighted at the demotion of a Blair minister lacking in
total loyalty to their agenda.
By Francis Elliott
Published: 07 May 2006
Jack Straw's fate was sealed in a phone call from the White House to
Tony Blair last month, according to the former foreign secretary's friends.
They say President George Bush was furious that Mr Straw said it was
"nuts" to use nuclear weapons against Iran, an option reported to be
under active consideration in Washington.
Downing Street had already warned Mr Straw repeatedly to tone down his
complete rejection of the military route as "inconceivable", insisting
it was important to keep all options on the table.
The division between Mr Straw on the one hand and Mr Bush and Mr Blair
on the other was exposed in Prime Minister's Questions on 19 April,
although few realised the significance of the exchanges.
Sir Menzies Campbell asked Mr Blair whether he agreed with his Foreign
Secretary that military action against Iran would be "inconceivable" and
that the use of nuclear weapons would be "nuts".
An uncomfortable-looking PM said that while "nobody is talking about a
military invasion" now was "not the time to send a message of weakness.
The President of the US is not going to take any option off the table.
That is perfectly sensible for all the reasons the President has himself
given many, many times".
There is said to be jubilation this weekend among Washington's
neo-conservatives at Mr Straw's demise. One retired senior US
intelligence officer told his British counterpart recently that the
White House lost confidence in the Foreign Secretary at least six months
ago.
It was an analysis, we now know, shared by Mr Blair. The PM's aides say
Mr Straw has a tendency to brief friendly journalists with the details
of a contentious meeting, sometimes within hours.
Mr Blair was once moved to rebuke Mr Straw in a cabinet meeting for
briefing to The Sunday Times his preference for a referendum on the EU
constitution, boxing the PM into an option he was then resisting.
When at last the constitution finally hit the buffers Mr Straw called Mr
Blair as he holidayed in Tuscany with the news. A report at the time
stated: "Mr Blair had to calm the Foreign Secretary and urge him to
contain his delight at the constitution's demise. When he put the phone
down, the Prime Minister simply said: 'Tart'." While Mr Straw can claim
to have been loyal in the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, his
behaviour since has occasionally teetered on the edge of unacceptability.
Downing Street figures note that leaks of Foreign Office papers on Iraq
almost always show Mr Straw as a moderating influence over Blair and Bush.
Then there was his "grandstanding" with Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary
of State. Her visit to Blackburn prompted a mixture of contempt and
irritation among Blairites as Mr Straw milked it for every possible
media advantage.
But it was the looming crisis in Iran that is being blamed by Mr Straw's
friends for his demise. Mr Blair is said to regard the country's nuclear
ambitions as the greatest threat to the world and had grown weary of Mr
Straw's efforts to block any possibility of a military strike. Margaret
Beckett, his successor, can expect to be asked whether she too regards
it as "inconceivable" that force could be used against Tehran at the
first opportunity. The new Foreign Secretary flies to New York tomorrow
to meet Ms Rice and discuss a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran.
Mr Straw's decision to accept his demotion is double-edged for Mr Blair.
While he has humbled an enemy, he has not killed him and left him in a
post that is more powerful than it looks. As Leader of the House, Mr
Straw can build support for his ally Gordon Brown among backbenchers.
Mr Straw now controls the legislative programme, so Mr Blair might find
he needs the man he demoted more than he would like as he struggles to
ram controversial laws through the Commons.
"Jack will bide his time, nursing his wounds and waiting for his moment
of revenge," said a former cabinet colleague last night.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article362559.ece
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