Blair And Bush Shoulder Burden Of Change At Summit

President Bush today defiantly insisted that America would still achieve "victory" in the Iraq war as he distanced himself from several key recommendations of this week’s report from the Baker-Hamilton commission.

Speaking alongside Tony Blair at a Washington press conference, Mr Bush appeared to rule out direct negotiations with Iran over the future of Iraq until the Tehran regime had abandoned its uranium enrichment programme. His position on Iran and other issues put him directly at odds with the Iraq Study Group’s report, as well as Mr Blair, his chief ally in the War on Terror.

Although Mr Bush acknowledged that "it’s bad in Iraq and the American people expect us to come up with a new strategy", much of his language echoed that of the past four years. He spoke about the "noble goal" of spreading democracy to the Middle East and predicted that the US would ultimately prevail.

For his part, the Prime Minister sought to bridge the gap between such idealism and the hard-headed "realists" of the Iraq Study Group led by James Baker, the former Secretary of State. The report on Wednesday said that the situation was "grave and deteriorating" as it called for a new foreign policy to halt a "slide towards chaos".

Mr Blair said: "I think the analysis of the situation is not really in dispute. The question is how do we find the right way forward." He added: "The report is practical, it’s clear, and it offers also the way of bringing people together. This report gives us a basis on which we can move forward. There’s a tendency, I think, sometimes, to see this as a battle between the idealists on the one hand and the realists on the other. In my view, the only modern form of realism is one that has ideals at the centre of it."

The Prime Minister confirmed that he would go to the Middle East before the end of the year to hold direct talks with Israel and the Palestinian Authority about restarting the long-stalled peace process. His view that this remains the key to a broader Middle East settlement has been backed by the Baker report. Mr Bush also gave a fresh commitment to help the peace effort. "There would be no point in me going," said Mr Blair, "unless it was part of a mission that was supported fully by our American allies, but it is . . . What you have from us today is an acceptance, and indeed a clear belief, that you look at these issues together. There is a kind of whole vision about how we need to proceed that links what happens inside Iraq with what happens outside Iraq."

However, even on this point, differences emerged between the British and American positions. Mr Bush made it clear that he would not accept negotiations that deviated from the existing "quartet principles". They insist that a future Palestinian Government must be committed to non-violence, recognise the state of Israel and all previous obligations and agreements.

The President said: "We can’t abandon the principles of the quartet because it may sound easy. You know, we can’t do that. When nations lay out principles, you’ve got to adhere to those principles."

Mr Blair told the same press conference that while Israel’s right to exist was non-negotiable, negotiations could proceed either on the quartet principles or "alternatively a different way forward". His official spokesman later explained that while Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, accepted the principles, Hamas — the largest party — did not: "We have to find a way of resolving that either through a unity government, or another way".

There were similar disagreements on the Baker report’s call for direct engagement with Iran and Syria on the future of Iraq in particular and the Middle East in general. Mr Bush was uncompromising, saying that if Syria and Iran were not committed to helping the young democracy of Iraq survive, "then they shouldn’t bother to show up" for talks with the US. On Iran, the President reiterated that he would not enter direct negotiations until it had suspended its enrichment programme, despite the Baker report’s suggestion that the nuclear issue be kept separate.

Significantly, Mr Blair avoided the nuclear question, saying that "the issue for me is not a question of being unwilling to sit down with people or not". The only condition he appeared to set for talks was that Syria and Iran needed to show that they were willing to help Iraq by ending their support for sectarian violence and sponsorship of terrorism.

Downing Street said that the Iraq Study Group’s report "says things which have been part of our evolving thinking". Although Mr Bush said it was a "very constructive report", he suggested that even its authors did not "expect us to accept every recommendation".

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