The one failure worse than fighting an unnecessary war is not fighting a necessary one. While it is premature to say we are going to war against Iraq (and there is hope it may yet be avoided), the fact is, at some point, another Afghanistan may happen.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to demonstrate the moral integrity that shows why, when the history of the human race is composed, the British will occupy a great portion of the writing about the progress of humanity. His speech, detailed at (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1-535498,00.html) shows the continuing prescience of British leaders since Churchill who’ve shown the unflinching courage to look the future square in the face, and stare it down.
Blair is no patsy for US foreign policy. He’s aware that one major influence Britain has in the world today is its relationship with the United States. Churchill knew, after the 2nd WW, that Britain was finished as a world power. Rationally, he faced a choice: to become a follower of the French/German power bloc on the continent, or to build a unique union with the US. He, of course, chose the latter.
Blair, likewise recognizes the value of this relationship. If there’s any world leader who could be said to have a veto over US actions, it’s Blair.
But he, again like Churchill, sees the threat to the west from genocidal fanatics like Hussein. While war is neither imminent, nor indicated as this is written, Britain is readying its troops. Blair sees clearly that the unity of the west must be preserved if it is to survive. The Germans have the luxury of being pretenders to the throne, as it were. They’ve had 50 years of British and American troops providing them with security.
But the British helped create western civilization. Whatever its detractors may say about it, the west has progressed farther in protecting human rights than any civilization in the history of humanity. And Britain has played no small part in this.
I have referred several times to the Funeral Oration of Pericles. That speech, so dramatically foresighted, found an echo in the Gettysburg Address. And it finds, today, an embodiment in a man who leads 55 million people living on an island.
Truly remarkable.
