From the serenity of the White House Rose Garden to the chaos of Baghdad and Basra the Tony Blair farewell tour rolled into Iraq yesterday with the Prime Minister insistent that good progress was being made in bringing stability to the country.His comments came only a few hours after a mortar bomb had fallen in the protected green zone near the British embassy and in a weekend when eight American soldiers were killed and 43 Iraqi civilians were found murdered.
And when Blair flew into Iraq on a Hercules air transport, the plane had descended sharply to minimise its landing time. Similar precautions were taken when he was transferred to his helicopter which fired flares when close to landing to draw potential missiles. Incoming fire could be heard only five minutes before he touched down.
The British army headquarters in Basra also came under mortar attack minutes after Blair paid an emotional farewell tribute to British troops. There were not believed to be any injuries and Blair was in no danger.
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