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"And reading or watching news of this decision isn't raising as much ire, eh?"

PM calls off medal ceremony in US
By Oonagh Blackman and Paul Gilfeather, July 12, 2003

TONY BLAIR has ditched plans to receive a "thank you" medal from President Bush next week for backing the war on Iraq.

The Prime Minister and the President scrapped the ceremony as it would have triggered a furious backlash in Britain where controversy over the war is raging.

Mr Blair is engulfed in a growing crisis over the legality of the war and the Daily Mirror can reveal American officials have had intensive talks with the PM's aides over the past week.

Pictures of a smiling Mr Blair having the Congressional Gold Medal pinned on him by President Bush would have been beamed around the world at a time when British and American soldiers are still losing their lives in Iraq.

It would have been a public relations catastrophe and stirred up fresh fury in the Labour ranks. Democrats in the US have also fiercely opposed the idea of a medal as they have branded the war illegal and accused President Bush of misleading the American public.

Mr Blair arrives in Washington on Thursday to make a speech to Congress, a rare honour for a foreign leader. The Washington visit is the first leg of a round-the-world trip by Mr Blair and his wife Cherie.

The PM's official spokesman said: "The Prime Minister will address a joint meeting of Congress and have talks with President Bush. But there will be no presentation of a medal."

When asked why the ceremony was scrapped the No10 official said: "That process is still going through in the US. It has to go to the Senate first and then to the House of Representatives."

Mr Blair is hugely popular in the US for backing the war, but his close links with the right-wing Republican president have infuriated his own Party.

Yesterday ex-Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle said: "Personally for Mr Blair it is preferable for him not to be seen to be getting this medal.

"It would have played as a huge negative for people in the Party."

The PM will fly on to Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Source

[My question regarding ". . . a furious backlash in Britain where controversy over the war is raging" above: How can Americans possibly be so cold and crass and self-serving as to have so little outrage over our own part in the unjust debacle of violence called 'the war in Iraq'? -v]