BBC NEWS | Middle East | Baghdad diary: Another planet

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Baghdad diary: Another planet: "Tony Blair came to Baghdad at the weekend, to show support for the Iraqi government.

I covered the UK prime minister's last visit in late May, when Prime Minister Nouri Maliki was putting the finishing touches to a government of national unity. The situation was bad, but there was hope it might start to turn things round.

Six months on, with possibly as many as 18,000 more Iraqis dead, it is hard to find many optimists now.

Both leaders looked like they were on auto-pilot, saying much the same things they've said before." Read complete post here.