- Tony Blair has given the clearest hint that he is ready
to commit British troops to war with Iraq, saying that he accepts that
Britain's special relationship with America means being prepared to pay
the 'blood price'.
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- He spoke as the apparent build-up to war gathered pace.
America doubled its war stocks in Kuwait to accommodate an expansion of
US forces at a base near the Iraqi border as President Bush said that 'history
has called us into action'.
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- In some of Mr Blairís frankest remarks about his
relations with the President, Mr Blair said that the special relationship
was ìreal, strong and importantî.
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- He would probably have said that before becoming Prime
Minister, but after five years he felt it more strongly. He said of Mr
Bush: "He's got an extremely charming personality. He's really direct.
He's very straight and he's extremely easy to deal with.
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- "There's no hidden agenda or undercurrents to the
conversation. It's down to business and everything's out in the open and
discussed properly."
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- Mr Blair was interviewed for a BBC Two documentary Hotline
to the President, which will be screened on Sunday. He was questioned by
Michael Cockerell and gave an insight into how important the special relationship
was to him. The interview took place at the end of July.
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- The Prime Minister was asked whether he accepted the
remarks of Robert McNamara. The former US Defence Secretary, speaking after
the former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, had refused Lyndon Johnson's
request for British troops to go to Vietnam, said that in a moment of crisis
for the Americans the special relationship meant Britain being prepared
to send troops, "to commit themselves, to pay the blood price".
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- Mr Blair replied: "Yes. What's important is that
at a moment of crisis they don't need to know simply that you are giving
general expressions of support and sympathy - that's easy, frankly. They
need to know are you prepared to commit, are you prepared to be there,
and when the shooting starts are you prepared to be there?" Mr Blair
said that Britain would not back America automatically. "If I thought
they were committing military action in a way that was wrong, I would not
support it. I am very reluctant ever to get into military action, but there
are some times when it is inevitable."
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- On Iraq, he said: "When I say this is an issue that
has to be dealt with I mean it, not because America thinks it is important.
I think it is important. I think Britain thinks it is important. These
questions of how we get the right strategy for dealing with it, that's
where the special relationship matters. The reason we are together is not
because America snaps its fingers and we feel we have to jump to it. Why
on earth should we do that? "There is no reason for us to act inconsistent
with our own interests. The reason we are with America in so many of these
issues is because it is in our interests."
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- In the programme, the President's father, the former
President George Bush, said that suggestions of a "poodle" relationship
were offensive.
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- Mr Blair will fly to Washington tomorrow for a meeting
with Mr Bush on Iraq. Next month he will go to Moscow to see President
Putin.
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- The Government resisted pressure yesterday for an early
recall of Parliament, although a one-day debate the week after next is
a possibility. Iain Duncan Smith said that there should be a debate after
ministers published the dossier of evidence against Iraq.
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- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-405499,00.html
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