If you missed it, Tony Blair's speech yesterday was excellent:
number-10.gov.uk
excerpt (incidentally a question from the Guardian):
QUESTION
You have made a good case again today, you have made it several times, and yet you don't seem to be persuading people. My impression, talking to marchers and others, is that what really worries people is not you, but a fear of a right wing Republican administration in Washington, not your relations with Mr Bush, I am sure they are very good, but people are afraid that they are rushing into something and acting unilaterally in a similar way to actions they have taken in the last couple of years which have genuinely worried people. And it does strike one that for many people in the administration, again not Mr Bush, that you might be a not too damaged piece of collateral damage, friendly fire, if things go wrong. What do you say to people who are afraid of the administration in Washington, why should they trust a government they don't trust on so many other issues?
PRIME MINISTER
I would say to them two things. First of all, don't look at the parody of what George Bush has done, look at the reality. After 11 September he did not act in haste, he actually waited and acted deliberately and acted with the international community behind him. When last summer everyone was convinced we were about to rush to war, he didn't, he went to the UN, he made his speech to the UN, he made his claim to the UN to act on this issue and gave peace an additional chance to work. And the second thing I would say is that whatever people feel about America, look at the merits of the issue. Is Saddam a threat? Yes. Is the issue to do with weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism, Heavens above with what we see happening in this country today, are these things a threat to us? Yes. Do we have to deal with them? Of course we have got to deal with them. And is the regime of Saddam one of the most murderous and brutal the world knows, where as I say literally thousands of people die every year as a result of him being in power? The answer to that is yes as well. So the case can be made very, very easily. And there is one other thing I would like to say, which probably isn't a very popular thing to say perhaps particularly to you representing the Guardian on this, but I actually believe, and I am not suggesting incidentally that the Guardian is anti-American, but I do honestly believe people should think carefully. Some of the rhetoric that I hear used about America is actually more savage than some of the rhetoric you hear used about Saddam and the Iraqi regime. Now come on, let's get a sense of perspective here. America is our ally, America is a country that we have been together with over the past 100 years, stood together with in important times. Now that is not a reason why we should do whatever America wants, but it is a reason why we should at least approach this issue looking upon America as an ally, and not as some alien power that operates against our interest. And I simply say to you, and I say this again, and I said this last night at the Council, people who want to pull Europe and America apart are playing the most dangerous game of international politics I know. If Europe and America stand together we can sort the problems of the world. If you set up these rival polls of power where people are being pulled one way or another way between the two, between Europe and America, I sincerely believe that is so dangerous for the security of our world. What we have got to do is have the right dialogue, that is why I said a few weeks ago, we who are the allies of America also want America, as I said, to listen back. Well they have listened back, they went through the UN, we aren't actually at war today. But having gone through the UN and having said he has got a final chance to disarm, if he doesn't disarm then what prospect is there of persuading America in the future to go down the multilateral route if having taken that route we then just shy away from the consequences of it. So I am under no illusions as to what the interplay of these arguments are with people, but I think just occasionally we should remind ourselves of the fact that America is an ally of Britain for very good reasons and I personally am proud of that alliance and that is not the reason why I act in this situation. I have told you the reason and it is the reason I believe in, but it is at least something that should make us pause before we engage in some of the stuff that I have seen that I think is pretty irresponsible. |
