FT.com | COMMENT: Blair has few options in Iraq or Washington

It's becoming clear that the shaky coalition bullied into being by Bush has become the downfall of all those involved. Here's the upshot from the FT:

"Mr Blair's options now are limited. It is probably too late simply to detach himself from his friend in the White House. But what exists now in Iraq is a military occupation without a political strategy. Publicly as well as privately, the prime minister must now try to salvage something from the chaos.

Internationalising the crisis will not be easy, not least because those governments that opposed the war are understandably reluctant to help clear up the mess. But Mr Blair must put himself on the side of those - including Jacques Chirac, the French president - who insist that political authority for guiding Iraq back to self-government be given to the United Nations.

Replacing misdirection from Washington with a substantive role for the UN Security Council will not of itself restore stability in Iraq. The UN's own reputation in that country has been tarnished by a decade of sanctions. But it might be the beginning of a process that persuades Iraqis that the notional transfer of sovereignty on June 30 is more than a cloak for continued US control.

Mr Blair should throw his full political weight behind the French idea for an international conference on Iraq, comparable to the Bonn meeting that preceded the political settlement in Afghanistan. To go public would be to risk rebuff in Washington. But Mr Blair has run out of choices. And, watching the crisis in Washington deepen by the day, I cannot help thinking that this might, just might, be the moment when Mr Bush has to pay heed to his closest ally."

When a British journal starts saying "Jacques Chirac was right" and that Blair should adhere to Chirac's model of dealing with Iraq, you know that things are going downhill for the Bubba administration. Whether this comes home to roost in the states or not is still a question.

Perhaps Europeans will be able to thank W for unifying them better than they could have done themselves. Bush, as a matchmaker, can already claim a success story in the reunion of Sunni and Shiite forces in Iraq.