Regards, Ivan
Posted on 04/23/2003 2:59:51 PM PDT by MadIvan
TONY BLAIR challenged continuing critics of the war against Saddam Hussein last night to judge the coalition by the way in which it helped to rebuild Iraq.
After talks at Downing Street with José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, during which they had a telephone link-up with President Bush, Mr Blair urged opponents to wait before they made a final judgment.
“This was a tough battle. It was always going to be,” Mr Blair said. “I do not disrespect anybody who took a different point of view. But what I always had in my mind was the nature of this regime.
“When people read the details of the torture chambers, the prisons, the thousands upon thousands of people that Saddam killed, even those who disagreed with the war should see that the Iraqi people had greater freedom and hope than they ever had in the years under Saddam.”
The Prime Minister said to his critics: “Wait and see whether we carry out the commitment we have given to the Iraqi people not to desert them but to help them. If we do and Iraq becomes the country I believe it can be, I hope that even those who opposed us will recognise that our motives were sincere and that our actions after the conflict have borne testimony to that.”
Mr Blair, standing next to Señor Aznar, one of his main allies during the war, paid tribute to his Spanish counterpart’s courage and leadership over the past six months at a time when the proposed conflict was unpopular in Spain.
Mr Blair said that Iraq was “continuing to stabilise”. He said it was clear from the Shia pilgrimage to Kerbala that “there are freedoms people are enjoying in Iraq today, freedoms to agree, freedoms to disagree that they have been denied for many long years under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.”
It was also clear from the discoveries over the past few days just how brutal that regime was.
There were prisons where thousands were tortured and died, mass graves of those who disagreed with the regime, the environmental degradation committed by Saddam’s armed forces, the sheer terror that the population had lived under for many years, the Prime Minister said.
He called on Europe and the United States never again to divide in the way that they had over Iraq. He declined to say that he would mediate in the continuing row between France and the United States.
Mr Blair said that the relations between the two countries were for them, and “I am sure they will be able to handle whatever discussion they may have in their own way”.
He added: “I hope very much that in the future we can come to a clear understanding that the world works best when Europe and America are partners together, where we are not rivals but partners.”
Mr Blair and Señor Aznar said that they had also agreed on the need to continue the fight against terrorism in all its forms. It was an evil both their countries had experienced and they had committed themselves to dealing with it.
Both welcomed the agreement yesterday on forming the Palestinian Cabinet after Yassir Arafat bowed to demands from the international community, including several telephone calls from Mr Blair. Señor Aznar said there were now real expectations that Israel and the Palestinians could coexist peacefully. Mr Blair said: “There is now every chance we can make progress in the Middle East.”
Regards, Ivan
Thank you, PM Blair. I share your belief and faith in the promise Iraq can become.
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