The Lebanon


A Lebanese man holds the body of his child after he was killed during an overnight Israeli airborne operation on the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck, 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Beirut, August 2, 2006. Israeli commandoes snatched three Hizbollah members, killing 19 civilians in the raid. (LEBANON)

02 Aug 2006 REUTERS/Mohammed Solh

Former diplomats turn on Blair over Lebanon

Civil war warning blow to Blair

Britain's outgoing ambassador to Baghdad has warned that civil war is the most likely outcome in Iraq, according to a leaked report.

In a confidential memo to ministers, William Patey also predicted the break-up of Iraq along ethnic lines.

The grim assessment from Britain's most senior civil servant in Iraq will have come as a blow to Tony Blair and his attempts to portray Iraq as "at a new beginning" on the road to a stable democracy.

I don't expect Blair will listen to reason, his or rather the US foregin policy is naive, self-deluding and extremely dangerous. This applies to both Iraq and the crisis in the Lebanon where the death toll has exceeded 900.

Far from reducing support for Hezbollah, the IDF's actions have only strengthened it, increasing Hezbollah's popularity in the Islamic world.


Victims of bombings in south Lebanon are placed in coffins in Tyre (Soure) August 2, 2006. (LEBANON)

01 Aug 2006 REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

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