Blair's defence of special relationship with US has hollow ring

[cal04]

Tony Blair was accused of "delusional" behaviour after he mounted a strong defence of making Britain's special relationship with the United States the cornerstone of his foreign policy.

An unrepentant Mr Blair told MPs the relationship had given Britain more clout at the world's top table during his 10 years in power and insisted that it had resulted directly in progress on climate change, the Middle East and Africa. But his critics said little progress had been made on these issues and that Mr Blair had enjoyed little influence over President George Bush.

On the day that the family of the 100th British serviceman to die in action in Iraq spoke of their grief, the Prime Minister defended the use of force to oust Saddam Hussein. Second Lieutenant Jonathan Carlos Bracho-Cooke, 24, of the 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, was killed when a roadside bomb hit a patrol in Basra.

Mr Blair expressed confidence that Gordon Brown, his most likely successor, would continue his approach to military intervention after he stands down - even though the Chancellor has hinted at a more multilateral policy with an enhanced role for the United Nations in the wake of the Iraq disaster.

The Prime Minister admitted the special relationship had damaged him personally because of Iraq, but said Britain should not "drift" into giving it up because of hostile public opinion. "I am the person who above all can give evidence as to the difficulty and sometimes the political penalty you pay for a close relationship with the US, but we shouldn't give that up in any set of circumstances," he said. Mr Blair told the Liaison Committee of senior MPs that the links were an advantage rather than a problem for Britain in the Middle East. "The relationship with America is what opens lots of doors everywhere, including the Middle East. For better or worse, this country for the last 10 years has been right at the heart of every single major international agenda - whether it is terrorism, climate change, Africa, whatever it is," he said


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2245133.ece

[illinoisprogressive]

1. Whatever happened to this once dynamic and intellegent man? He has become

a joke and doesn't even know it. He lives in a world of delussion. It's so sad. I remember when he exploded 10 years ago and he was so amazing. Then he became this shell of his former self.
He has dragged his country into a mess and destroyed alot of it's credibility while playing footies with Bush.
The sad part is that all that hanging around Bush has turned him into the same unreality, in some play world joke that Bush is.