Written by Speaking at the annual Labour Party conference last Tuesday, here’s a bit of what Prime Minister Tony Blair said about he ongoing war in Iraq and his critics at home:
“I know there are people, good people, who disagreed with the decision to remove Saddam by force. Yes, several hundred people stoned British troops in Basra. Yes, several thousand run the terrorist insurgency around Baghdad. And yes, as a result of the fighting, innocent people tragically died. The way to stop the innocent dying is not to retreat, to withdraw, to hand these people over to the mercy of religious fanatics or relics of Saddam, but to stand up for their right to decide their government in the same democratic way the British people do.”
Blair also defended his partnership with President Bush, saying “Britain should remain the strongest ally of the United States.” “I never doubted after Sept. 11 that our place was alongside America and I don’t doubt it now. And for a very simple reason,” he said. “Terrorism struck most dramatically in New York but it was aimed then and is aimed now at us all, at our way of life.”
I remember when Tony Blair attended President Bush’s address to a Joint Session of Congress a few days after 9/11. I remember thinking how that was a *true* ally. In those uncertain days when we expected the next attack would come soon,he was right there in the biggest bulls-eye on the planet, even though he didn’t have to be.
I read this last night, excellent piece by George Will along the same lines.
It is excellent and states why we have to do what we do to fight terrorism.
http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/