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| The Alliance |
| Tony Blair interview |
| 2001-10-26 |
Britain's Tony Blair has been eloquent and steadfast in his support for America and civilization. London's Telegraph has a full transcript of an interview with Blair; here are some highlights: Interviewer: People have attributed to you a certain sort of calming role. How worried were you that there would be an instant and inappropriate reaction by the United States because they were so understandably angry? Did it require something in those early days . . . Prime Minister: No, I never had to exercise a moderating influence because George Bush, right from the beginning, and in part because of the sheer enormity of what had happened, realised that it had to be got right, rather than be done quickly and I found from the very first conversation that we had that he was shocked, but utterly focused and knew that in a sense, simply to retaliate for effect would neither be right or sensible. . . . Interviewer: You only say that we may have a vote in the Commons. Not that we will. Prime Minister: This is something we can keep under review, but there is no harm whatever in it being clear that some people are opposed. I think that is the strength of a democracy. I have never had a difficulty with it. I have always taken the view that the strength of your argument should be able to carry the day. And, as I say, I think that sometimes in these situations people are desperate to get into the situation of saying we've been gagged because they find that in fact when their arguments about the issue are put under scrutiny, they don't quite stack up. And I honestly don't know in this situation what the argument against us taking action is. What are we supposed to do? When 6,000 are killed in the United States of America by an act of terrorism and we are expected to do what, exactly, if not take action. I keep asking for the answer to this, but I don't ever seem to get one apart from that we should negotiate with the Taliban or bin Laden. Or we should bring him before the International Court of Justice, or something. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |