Earl Anthony
Guest
|
 Posted:
Fri Jul 01, 2005 4:03 pm Post subject:
9/11 forced world's hand |
|
|
A line had to be drawn, says British prime minister, and Iraq was
logical pick.
For Prime Minister Tony Blair, the road to Iraq started with 9/11.
The British leader said that the attacks on U.S. soil fundamentally
changed the balance of risk in the world, and that he shared President
Bush's view that the tragedy had made a robust show of force an urgent
priority.
The attacks, he said, made it necessary to "draw a line in the sand
here, and the country to do it with was Iraq because they were in breach
of U.N. resolutions going back over many years."
Blair reflected on how Sept. 11, 2001, convinced him of the need for a
new approach to the threat of international terror.
"9/11 changed the whole picture for me. It changed the politics of how
we dealt with the threat," Blair said Wednesday in an interview with The
Associated Press.
He said his actions were based on personal conviction -- not in the hope
of any quid pro quo on other issues, such as climate control, Africa aid
or the Middle East, as some have suggested.
"I should only do what is right for Britain, and the president should
only do what is right for America."
Despite his strong linkage of the Iraq campaign to the Sept. 11 attacks,
Blair denied that the decision to go to war had been fixed long before
it was carried out. He said the so-called Downing Street memos, which
suggest the Bush administration had made up its mind to invade by 2002,
painted a distorted picture.
"People say the decision was already taken. The decision was not already
taken," he said.
According to the minutes of the meeting where the leaked memos were
taken, Sir Richard Dearlove, then chief of British intelligence, said
the White House viewed military action against Saddam Hussein as
inevitable after the Sept. 11 attacks.
President Bush "wanted to remove Saddam, through military action,
justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD," read the memo,
referring to weapons of mass destruction and seen by The AP. "But the
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
In the interview, Blair said raising such concerns was a natural part of
any examination of the cause for war.
"The most important thing we can do in Iraq is concentrate on the fact .
.. . that what is happening there is a monumental battle that affects our
own security," said Blair. "You've got every bad element in the whole of
the Middle East in Iraq trying to stop that country (from getting) on
its feet and (becoming) a democracy."
Blair echoed Bush's pledge Tuesday to keep U.S. forces in Iraq until the
fight is won. "There is only one side to be on now, and it is time we
got on it and stuck in there and get the job done, and not leave until
the job is done."
Blair has ambitious twin goals for next week's summit of the world's
eight most industrialized nations in Scotland -- reaching consensus on
fighting climate change, plus greatly boosting aid to Africa. On climate
change in particular, Blair said the going may be rough.
He said he hoped to reach agreement on moving toward a low-carbon
economy that curbs greenhouse gas emissions.
|
|
Thumper
Guest
|
| Posted:
Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:05 am Post subject:
Re: 9/11 forced world's hand |
|
|
On Fri, 01 Jul 2005 17:48:22 GMT, James Chamblee
<jim-chamblee@mindspring.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Earl Anthony at earlanthony@hotmail.com wrote
A line had to be drawn, says British prime minister, and Iraq was
logical pick.
Nonsense.
There was nothing logical about attacking Iraq, as the failure of the U.S.
attempt at regime change has failed so profusely.
|
What about WMDs?
Thumper
|
|
FAQ
Memberlist
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in