Highest US honour for Blair

Tuesday, 6 January 2009 1:39 PM

George Bush will award Tony Blair with the highest US honour possible for a civilian at a White House ceremony next week, it has been revealed.

Mr Blair, who served as UK prime minister for ten years from 1997, was one of the outgoing US president's closest allies during his two terms.

Now envoy for the Middle East quartet, Mr Blair will receive the presidential medal of freedom in the White House's East Room on January 13th.

It will be one of the last acts of Mr Bush's administration, which officially ends a week later when Barack Obama is inaugurated.

Joining Mr Blair in being honoured are Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and former Australian premier John Howard.

"The president is honouring these leaders for their work to improve the lives of their citizens and for their efforts to promote democracy, human rights and peace abroad," said White House spokesperson Dana Perino.

"All three leaders have been staunch allies of the United States, particularly in combating terrorism. And their efforts to bring hope and freedom to people around the globe have made their nations, America and the world community a safer and more secure world."

But Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather had a different analysis.

"This award is tainted with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi lives and, to add insult to injury, we will be handed over at a time when the Middle East is once more in the grip of horrific violence and bloodshed," she said.

The medal of freedom has been awarded to former United States presidents, sometimes posthumously, Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa in its 47-year history.

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