Blair to Congress: Mideast peace key to winning war on terror
By News Agencies
WASHINGTON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the United States Congress on Thursday that the war on terror would not be won without peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
"There is one cause terrorism rides upon, a cause they have no belief in but can manipulate," he said. "I want to be very plain: This terrorism will not be defeated without peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine."
In the first address to Congress by a British prime minister since Margaret Thatcher in 1985, Blair said that the entire Arab world must recognize the State of Israel, and end incitement against both Israel and Jews.
"Here it is that the poison is incubated. Here it is that the extremist is able to confuse in the mind of a frighteningly large number of people the case for a Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel, and to translate this moreover into a battle between East and West, Muslim, Jew and Christian.
"May this never compromise the security of the State of Israel. The State of Israel should be recognized by the entire Arab world, and the vile propaganda used to indoctrinate children, not just against Israel but against Jews, must cease.
"You cannot teach people hate and then ask them to practice peace. But neither can you teach people peace except by according them dignity and granting them hope.
Innocent Israelis suffer. So do innocent Palestinians."
The prime minister also Congress that he believes "with every fiber of instinct and conviction" that the U.S. and British led war on Iraq was justified - and that history will forgive them if weapons allegations used as justification were wrong.
"We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it," he said.
The prime minister suggested that history will forgive the toppling of Saddam Hussein's government even if it turns out that Blair and President George W. Bush were wrong about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
To have hesitated "in the face of this menace when we should have given leadership ... that is something that history will not forgive," Blair said, to loud applause from House members and senators.
Blair entered the House chamber to a standing ovation of lawmakers, senior Bush administration officials and American military brass.
The prime minister wryly thanked his audience for a "warm and generous welcome that's more than I deserve, and it's more than I'm used to, quite frankly."
That was a reference to domestic Birtish politics. Before the war, Blair drew stronger opposition in the House of Commons to military action than Bush did in Congress. And like Bush, he has been hit hard by post-war controversy over questionable intelligence about Saddam Hussein's nuclear aims.
Blair's visit to Congress, and then to the White House for a meeting and joint news conference with Bush, came amid deepening questions about the intelligence information both leaders used in arguing that war against Iraq was necessary.
The two leaders were the closest of allies on the war, but the relationship has been strained in recent weeks over questions about British claims that Iraq sought to buy uranium in Africa and the president's use of such an assertion in his Jan. 28 State of the Union address.
"Can we be sure that terrorists and weapons of mass destruction will join together?" Blair asked. "Let us say one thing. If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhumane carnage and suffering."
Blair arrived aboard his British Airways jet in early afternoon and went directly to Capitol Hill. It was the first leg of a seven-day tour that will also take him to Asia. He is the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress since Margaret Thatcher in 1985.
His speech also touched on the war on terrorism, the Middle East peace process, the need to eradicate poverty, disease and famine in Africa and the need to promote free trade.
"This terrorism will not be defeated without peace in the Middle East," he said.
In what appeared to be mild criticism of the Bush administration, Blair also said it was important to act in coalitions, not going it alone. "Let us start preferring a coalition and acting alone if we have to, not the other way around," he said.
And, he called on lawmakers not to continue to bear grudges against European countries who opposed the war.
"They are our allies. And yours. So don't give up on Europe," he said.
"When we invade Afghanistan or Iraq, our responsibility does not end with military victory," Blair said. "Finishing the fighting is not finishing the job. We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it."
"We promised them the chance to use their oil wells to build prosperity for all their citizens, not a corrupt elite. We will stay with these people so in need of help until the job is done."
"I believe with every fiber of instinct and conviction I have that we are" right in deciding to go to war without broad international support, Blair said.
Ahead of his visit, White House spokesman Scott McClellan reiterated the recent administration stance that Bush's mention of the British Iraq-Africa report should not have been included in the January address.
Still, he added, "the British have been very clear that they stand by that statement."
Bush said in his State of the Union address, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
The Iraq-Africa dispute has stoked criticism against both the Blair and Bush governments, and Blair's visit helped to further draw attention.
CIA Director George Tenet has thus far taken the blame, suggesting he should have objected when a draft of Bush's speech was circulated to his agency.
