Blair Stresses Hussein’s Fall, Not Arms Hunt

In a passionate speech to Congress on Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said history will forgive the U.S.-led coalition if weapons of mass destruction are not found in Iraq because of the broader good of fighting tyranny and preventing future terrorism.

Blair’s visit was meant to honor America’s staunchest ally in the war, and he was accorded the rare distinction of being invited to address a joint session of Congress. The British leader also was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

But shortly after receiving a hero’s welcome on Capitol Hill, Blair joined President Bush for a tense exchange with reporters at the White House, where the pair stood by their assertions that the deadly weapons will be found but avoided answers to the tough questions each faces at home.

Bush said postwar chaos, a decade of practice in hiding weapons programs and only recent cooperation by high-level officials from Saddam Hussein’s regime explained why arms had yet to be uncovered months after the fall of Baghdad.

The two leaders’ answers did little, however, to solve mounting questions over conflicting intelligence assessments about whether Hussein attempted to buy uranium from Africa, a key indication of whether Iraq was trying to reconstitute its nuclear program.

At the center of the controversy is Bush’s assertion in his January State of the Union speech that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Niger, a claim the president attributed to the British. Lawmakers are investigating who in the White House pushed to include the remarks despite CIA expressions of concern. It was subsequently revealed that the allegations of Iraq’s attempts to buy uranium were at least partly based on forged documents.

Blair said he stands by intelligence assessments concluding that Baghdad did try to make the purchase. “The British intelligence that we have we believe is genuine,” he told reporters.

For his part, Bush dodged a question about whether he would accept responsibility for the sentence in his speech.

“I take responsibility for putting troops into action. I take responsibility for making the tough decision to put together a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. Both U.S. and British intelligence “made a clear and compelling case that Saddam Hussein was a threat to security and peace,” he said.

“As long as I hold this office I will never risk the lives of American citizens by assuming the goodwill of dangerous enemies,” the president said.

“We’re being tested in Iraq. Our enemies are looking for signs of hesitation. They’re looking for signs of weakness. They will find none.”

New Details

Meanwhile, new details emerged on the negotiations between the CIA and the White House over the State of the Union allegation. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and others said CIA officials identified the senior White House aide who persuaded the agency to allow the allegation into the speech.

Durbin declined to name the White House official, but others identified him as Robert G. Joseph, an advisor on counter-proliferation issues and homeland security to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan characterized Durbin’s comments as “nonsense” and said the senator is “trying to justify his own vote” earlier this year against the war in Iraq.

Speaking to a packed House chamber, Blair strongly defended the decision to topple Hussein and said he believes “with every fiber of instinct and conviction” that the United States and Britain have to show leadership to ensure that terrorists do not get their hands on the world’s deadliest weapons.

“If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that, at its least, is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will forgive. But if our critics are wrong, if we are right ... and we do not act, then we will have hesitated in the face of this menace when we should have given leadership,” Blair said.

“That is something history will not forgive,” he said, triggering a sustained standing ovation from Congress, one of more than three dozen times his speech was interrupted by applause.

Acknowledging his political problems at home, where he has been under fire from his political opposition and from within his own Labor Party over Iraq, Blair noted with a grin that the standing ovation that greeted him was “more than I deserve and more than I’m used to, quite frankly.”

In an eloquent address laced with humor and American history, Blair heralded the role the United States has played in fighting the broader war on terrorism despite skepticism and questions even among its allies. Once again, he played the role of bridge between a United States traumatized by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a Europe suspicious of America’s power and willingness to use it.

“There never has been a time when the power of America was so necessary or so misunderstood, or when, except in the most general sense, a study of history provides so little instruction for our present day,” Blair said.

America’s leadership in international affairs is so crucial in the 21st century that it makes theories that prevailed during the Cold War and in 19th century Europe outdated, he said.

“There is no more dangerous theory in international politics today than that we need to balance the power of America with other competitive powers, different poles around which nations gather,” Blair said.

“It is dangerous because it is not rivalry but partnership we need, a common will and a shared purpose in the face of a common threat.”

Any effective alliance begins with America and Europe, he insisted. When they stand together, others will cooperate. When they split, others will play the two sides off against each other and “nothing but mischief will be the result,” he said.

History Not a Guide

History, Blair said, offers scant guidance on how the world should confront challenges posed by the rise of fanaticism and its access to weapons and technology. “We are bound together as never before, and this coming together provides us with unprecedented opportunity, but also makes us uniquely vulnerable,” he said.

Blair nudged the United States to forgive key European powers for their differences. “Don’t give up on Europe,” he said. “Work with it.”

While Europe must defeat the new anti-Americanism that “sometimes passes for its political discourse,” the United States must show that the partnership is built on “persuasion, not command,” he told an audience of lawmakers, military brass and Cabinet secretaries.

Blair also gently urged the United States to recognize that the war against terrorism will not be successful if fought only with bullets.

“This is a battle that can’t be fought or won only by armies.... Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs.... The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defense and our first line of attack.”

Republicans looked almost giddy during Blair’s speech, while the reaction was mixed among Democrats until Blair made references to peaceful diplomacy. Blair also urged Washington to follow through on three hotspots it bears primary responsibility for resolving.

The U.S.-led coalition must deliver on its promise of democracy to Iraq, for the sake of both Iraq and the coalition.

“How hollow would the charges of American imperialism be when these failed countries are and are seen to be transformed from states of terror to nations of prosperity, from governments of dictatorship to examples of democracy,” he said.

But the war on terrorism will also not end without a final Arab-Israeli peace, because “here it is that the poison is incubated,” allowing extremists to translate the conflict into a broader battle between civilizations and between religions, he warned. As agonizing and hopeless as they often seem, Blair said, peace negotiations are better than the alternative.

And if Afghanistan needs additional soldiers from the international community to widen the new government’s control outside Kabul, “our duty is to get them,” Blair said. The coalition that waged war to oust the Taliban regime should also help eradicate dependency on poppy production and drug trafficking by providing alternatives.

Blair’s speech “was on an international level the best speech I have ever heard,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif). House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) said Blair reminded Americans of their leadership role in the world -- “despite 16 words in a State of the Union address.”

But independent Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont said the address hardly dealt with Iraq and didn’t change the facts that Congress and the public are now grappling with, and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) noted that the two leaders still have “a cloud hanging over their heads.

“They are contradicting themselves about the lie,” she said in a reference to the disputed intelligence that was contained in Bush’s January State of the Union speech.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said Blair showed the need to “consult rather than demand. It’s not ‘my way or the highway.’ ”

Times staff writer Justin Gest contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Proud of the Partnership

Excerpts from British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s speech before a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:

Let me begin by thanking you most sincerely for voting to award me the Congressional Gold Medal. But you, like me, know who the real heroes are: those brave servicemen and women, yours and ours, who fought the war and risk their lives still....

Mr. Speaker, sir, my thrill on receiving this award was only a little diminished on being told that the first Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to George Washington for what Congress called his “wise and spirited conduct” in getting rid of the British out of Boston.

On our way down here, Sen. [Bill] Frist was kind enough to show me the fireplace where, in 1814, the British had burned the Congress Library. I know this is kind of late, but sorry....

*

Members of Congress, I feel a most urgent sense of mission about today’s world.

September 11 was not an isolated event, but a tragic prologue, Iraq another act....

There never has been a time when the power of America was so necessary or so misunderstood....

In another part of our globe there is shadow and darkness, where not all the world is free, where many millions suffer under brutal dictatorship, where a third of our planet lives in a poverty beyond anything even the poorest in our societies can imagine, and where a fanatical strain of religious extremism has arisen, that is a mutation of the true and peaceful faith of Islam.

And because in the combination of these afflictions a new and deadly virus has emerged. The virus is terrorism whose intent to inflict destruction is unconstrained by human feeling....

In the end, it is not our power alone that will defeat this evil. Our ultimate weapon is not our guns but our beliefs.

There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don’t; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values, or Western values; that Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved by his people; that Milosevic was Serbia’s savior.

Members of Congress, ours are not Western values, they are the universal values of the human spirit....

Anywhere, any time ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defense and our first line of attack....

In some cases where our security is under direct threat, we will have recourse to arms. In others, it will be by force of reason. But in all cases, to the same end: that the liberty we seek is not for some but for all, for that is the only true path to victory in this struggle....

The risk is that terrorism and states developing weapons of mass destruction come together. And when people say, “That risk is fanciful,” I say we know the Taliban supported Al Qaeda. We know Iraq under Saddam gave haven to and supported terrorists. We know there are states in the Middle East now actively funding and helping people who regard it as God’s will in the act of suicide to take as many innocent lives with them on their way to God’s judgment.

Some of these states are desperately trying to acquire nuclear weapons. We know that companies and individuals with expertise sell it to the highest bidder, and we know that at least one state, North Korea, lets its people starve while spending billions of dollars on developing nuclear weapons and exporting the technology abroad.

This isn’t fantasy, it is 21st century reality, and it confronts us now.

Can we be sure that terrorism and weapons of mass destruction will join together? Let us say one thing: If we are wrong, we will have destroyed a threat that at its least is responsible for inhuman carnage and suffering. That is something I am confident history will forgive.

But if our critics are wrong, if we are right -- as I believe with every fiber of instinct and conviction I have that we are -- and we do not act, then we will have hesitated in the face of this menace when we should have given leadership. That is something history will not forgive.... There is no more dangerous theory in international politics than that we need to balance the power of America with other competitive powers; different poles around which nations gather.

Such a theory may have made sense in 19th century Europe. It was perforce the position in the Cold War. Today, it is an anachronism to be discarded like traditional theories of security. And it is dangerous because it is not rivalry but partnership we need; a common will and a shared purpose in the face of a common threat....

It is not the coalition that determines the mission, but the mission the coalition. But let us start preferring a coalition and acting alone if we have to, not the other way around....

We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it.

We promised them the chance to use their oil wealth to build prosperity for all their citizens, not a corrupt elite, and we will do so....

And then reflect on this: How hollow would the charges of American imperialism be when these failed countries are and are seen to be transformed from states of terror to nations of prosperity, from governments of dictatorship to examples of democracy, from sources of instability to beacons of calm.

And how risible would be the claims that these were wars on Muslims if the world could see these Muslim nations still Muslim, but with some hope for the future, not shackled by brutal regimes whose principal victims were the very Muslims they pretended to protect?

Terrorism will not be defeated without peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine.

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....

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World security cannot be protected without the world’s heart being one. So America must listen as well as lead. But, members of Congress, don’t ever apologize for your values.

Tell the world why you’re proud of America. Tell them when “The Star-Spangled Banner” starts, Americans get to their feet, Hispanics, Irish, Italians, Central Europeans, East Europeans, Jews, Muslims, white, Asian, black....

Tell them why Americans, one and all, stand upright and respectful. Not because some state official told them to, but because whatever race, color, class or creed they are, being American means being free. That’s why they’re proud.

As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible, but, in fact, it is transient.

The question is: What do you leave behind? And what you can bequeath to this anxious world is the light of liberty....

And I know it’s hard on America, and in some small corner of this vast country, out in Nevada or Idaho or these places I’ve never been to, but always wanted to go ... I know out there there’s a guy getting on with his life, perfectly happily, minding his own business, saying to you, the political leaders of this country, “Why me? And why us? And why America?” And the only answer is, “Because destiny put you in this place in history, in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do.”

And our job, my nation that watched you grow, that you fought alongside and now fights alongside you, that takes enormous pride in our alliance and great affection in our common bond, our job is to be there with you.

To read the full text of Blair’s speech, go to latimes.com/blair