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| | Guardian | Why is the PM so defensive about his chief of defence? |
 | | Tony Blair's robust praise yesterday for General Sir Charles Guthrie, chief of the defence staff, is more than a formal display of support of someone who cannot speak out for himself, or a way of getting back at the rightwing, Eurosceptic, press. |
 | | Sir Charles, not surprisingly, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Blair government's show of confidence in the military, in its role, for example, in Kosovo and Sierra Leone - and now as a potential leading player in the proposed EU rapid reaction force. |
 | | But it would not be surprising if Sir Charles, a former SAS soldier said to have killed people with his bare hands, left a private meeting with the prime minister with teeth gritted. |
| www.guardian.co.uk /print/0,3858,4095753-106710,00.html (754 words) |
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