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Bush: British detainees are 'bad people'
By Patrick Hennessy in Washington, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 18.07.03Tony Blair and George Bush were today trying to reach a deal on the fate of two Britons facing trial in Guantanamo Bay.
The White House promised to make a statement after private talks between the two leaders in Washington late last night.
But claims the pair - Feroz Abbasi, 23, and Moazzam Begg, 35 - will not get a fair trial were fuelled when President Bush labelled them "bad people".
The US president appeared to take their guilt for granted in outspoken comments at a press conference before their talks.
To Mr Blair's discomfort, he insisted: "The only thing I know for certain is that they are bad people. We look forward to working with the Blair government to deal with these issues."
Mr Bush went on: "These were illegal combatants. They were picked up off the battlefield aiding and abetting the Taliban." He quickly added: "I am not trying to try them in front of the cameras."
The two accused have been held for more than a year and are on a list of six prisoners who could be the first to be put on trial.
MPs want them to be tried in a court in Britain - in the same way as suspected "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh was tried in a civil court in the US. But there have been reports that some ministers fear a British trial is unworkable, and that Mr Blair was instead pressing only for assurances of fairness.
The row over the treatment of the two detainees dominated last night's meeting. But there was no indication from either side what had been agreed before Mr Blair set off for the next leg of his world trip. The talks were held after an extraordinary reception given to Mr
Blair by the US Congress. He was awarded 17 standing ovations and his speech interrupted by wild applause.
Mr Blair appeared to shift ground, saying it had been right to go to war with Iraq even if no WMDs were found in the country. He said: "Let us say one thing, if we are wrong we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will forgive."
The Prime Minister - only the fourth British premier to address a joint session - said history would forgive the Allies even if the only result was the toppling of Saddam.
He added: "But if our critics are wrong - if we are right, as I believe with every fibre of instinct and conviction I have that we are - and we do not act, then we will have hesitated in the face of this menace, when we should have given leadership. That is something history will not forgive."
Mr Blair's speech, unsurprisingly, was strongly pro-American, although he offered some criticism when he said the US should join the international community in signing the Kyoto treaty on global warming.
He said: "The world's security cannot be protected without the world's hearts being won. So America must listen as well as lead."
Mr Blair said the Americans should forge a partnership with Europe "built on persuasion, not command".
He said that if Europe and America were together, the rest of the world would follow. But he added: "If we split, all the rest will flay around, play us off and nothing but mischief will be the result of it."
