Blair Expected the Iraq War to last 125 days -

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has revealed for the first time that coalition forces believed the war against Iraq would last for 125 days, the British Observer newspaper reported Sunday. In an interview with the paper, Blair, the staunchest ally of the United States, said he had spoken to Tommy Franks, the commander of US forces in Iraq, who had said the fighting was likely to take four months.

"When I was talking to General Franks the other day, he reminded me that under the original timetable for the conflict, itwas going to take 125 days after the ground action began to complete the conflict," the paper quoted Blair as saying.Blair also told the paper that the US-led military interventionin Iraq is still within the "original timetable" of 125 days set out by its commanders.

"Well, we are still within 125 days now, so I think it is possible to exaggerate the problems and difficulties," Blair said,adding that Britain would retain a military presence in Iraq for as long as necessary.

"This was never going to be a situation where you could just goin, invade a country, topple the government and walk away afterwards," Blair said."And therefore, I don't think that it is in the least surprising that it will take some time," he added. "We will stay and make sure we get the job done."Speaking to the paper, Blair still insisted that Iraq's allegedweapons of mass destruction could be found, although the search was liable to be long.

The United States and Britain launched war against Iraq on March 20 on the ground that Iraq's banned weapons posed threat to the international community.Blair has been under great pressure over the failure to find out any banned weapons by coalition forces in Iraq, months after US President George W. Bush announced on May 1 that major militarycampaign in the country was over.

Bin Laden may be in Pakistan, Musharaf

Head of the terrorist network of theal-Qaeda Ossama bin Laden could be in Pakistan, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with French daily Le Monde published in its Sunday's edition.

"If he (bin Laden) is protected by a big group, I think he ison the Afghan side of the (Afghan-Pakistani) borders. If his grouphas less than 10 people, he could be on the Pakistan side," said Musharraf. A large group could not get hidden on the Pakistani borders because the Pakistani government has deployed at least 6,000 men there, said Musharraf.

And the intelligence services in Pakistan work quite efficiently, he added. "The problem is in Afghanistan where the vacuum of power istotal," said the Pakistani president. Le Monde is a pro-left evening daily. It arrives at news stand in the afternoon and always posts the date of next day.

Musharraf left Paris on Friday after a three-day official visit. France was the last leg of his four-nation tour that has also taken him to Britain, the United States and Germany.