Britain's Blair visits Basra
( 2004-01-04 17:24) (Agencies)
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday to meet the nearly 10,000 British
troops serving there.
Blair arrived on a special military cargo plane from Egypt where he was on
holiday. Journalists were flown in secret from London to Egypt to accompany him.
It was Blair's second visit to Iraq since British forces fought alongside US
troops to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
His first visit, in May, was in part overshadowed by media reports back home
that accused Blair's government of hyping intelligence about banned Iraqi
intelligence to justify the case for war.
British troops patrol southern Iraq near the second city Basra, after leading
the assault on the area in the first days of the war last March.
The area, populated mainly by majority Shi'ite Muslims, has seen less
violence than mainly Sunni Muslim areas north of Baghdad where occupying US
forces frequently come under attack.
Britain sent about 45,000 troops to the Gulf at the height of the conflict,
the largest British military deployment since the Korean War 50 years
ago.
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