BUSH, BLAIR AND THE IRANIANS

So Tony Blair wants to look strong in his last few months in office, so he refuses to apologize to the Iranians. And George Bush, ever anxious to confront another Moslem country, can't control himself, butts in and calls the Iranian arrest of the British sailors/marines "inexcusable."

Mr. Bush, free the five Iranians that you had arrested in the Iranian liason office in Irbil last January. They have already been incarcerated for three months.

And Mr. Blair, lower your rhetoric and apologize for your British sailors' intrusion into Iranian waters. Both you and Mr. Bush opine Iraqi waters, the Iranians say their waters. Who knows which is true? So eat some humble pie, Mr. Blair, and apologize to the Iranians. And Mr. Bush, please butt out.

Maybe then the U.K., the U.S. and Iran can lower tensions and behave vis-a-vis in a reasonable way in the world community.