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Politics : WHO IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004 -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (4974)	9/21/2003 2:24:01 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10965

Blair's Vindication Britain's prime minister isn't going down to defeat over Iraq. Sunday, September 21, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT To read most press accounts, Tony Blair is so battered from the beating he's taken at home over Iraq that he left a trail of blood all the way to Berlin as he traveled to a summit meeting with his French and German counterparts this weekend. Mr. Blair has had nothing but misery for supporting President Bush on Iraq, the story goes. His party has deserted him, his poll numbers have cratered and then he was caught selling a lie. Back on planet Earth, the British Prime Minister is in fact in remarkably good political health. He has withstood a barrage of accusations from the BBC and his own backbenchers over the presentation of his Iraq policy. While his poll ratings, like those of most midterm leaders, have slipped (for reasons we'll mention later), most Britons believe military action in Iraq was justified. Moreover, those keeping score will note that the inquiry into the suicide of a government weapons expert shows that the BBC's claim the government "sexed up" reports on Iraq was baseless. Reporter Andrew Gilligan testified Wednesday that he'd been wrong when he suggested the government had "fabricated" the charge that Iraq could deploy weapons in 45 minutes, wrong to suggest the government was being dishonest, wrong to report his own views as if they were those of the late scientist. Somehow Mr. Gilligan says he still stands by the central thrust of his report, though by now we've lost track of what's left that hasn't been withdrawn, corrected or discredited. For one thing, there is no longer any question that the 45-minute claim came from a legitimate intelligence source. Sir Richard Dearlove, head of MI6, defended it in testimony Monday. Air Marshall Sir Joe French, former head of the defense intelligence staff, added the 45-minute claim came from a "very reliable source who had been used for some time."So much for substance, but a word about style. If the British Prime Minister has a few scratches to show these days, that is partly because his government long ago developed a reputation for "spin" that came back to haunt him when the spurious charges on Iraq were raised. Tax hikes, spending increases and many unfulfilled promises on improving public services--the issue foremost in the minds of British voters--are his real political problems. As for Mr. Blair's dwindling support in his own Labour Party, suffice it to say that signs of strain are another measure of the man. Labour--and especially its deep-pocketed union base--has never liked Mr. Blair's willingness (however modest) to engage the private sector in public-service reform or his decision to kick the union bosses out of bed. Well before Iraq, the unions were growing militant and the Labour backbenchers rebellious. It would be a shame if Mr. Blair now felt he had to pander to his party's left on domestic policies to "atone" for the lost support over Iraq. Iraq's dictator is gone and the country is on its way to becoming a pro-Western, moderate beachhead in the Arab heartland. The British-U.S. relationship is firm and a force for good in the world. For this, Britons can thank Mr. Blair.And not just Britons. Europe is slowly moving Britain's way too. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder offered Germany's help in training Iraqi police and called on all countries, whether or not they supported the war, to play a role in getting Iraq back on its feet. Jacques Chirac swallowed hard and expressed his support for the German offer. In Berlin this weekend, a triumphant Mr. Blair is well placed to defend his country's alliance with the U.S. Much as the trans-Atlantic media would like to persuade their publics that Mr. Blair and the "cowboy" in the White House are going down to defeat over Iraq, the reality is very different. URL:http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110004040