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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional Gold Medal Recipient
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
British Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses a Joint Session of Congress Thursday.
Full text of speech
WASHINGTON British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a joint meeting of Congress Thursday that war in Iraq was justified and the coalition will not abandon the Arab nation until it is up and running peacefully. "We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it," he said. Blair, the United States' staunchest ally prior to the war against Iraq, arrived in Washington, D.C., Thursday for a whirlwind round of talks. His visit started with a closed meeting with congressional leaders, which was followed by his address to Congress. Blair's visit comes at a time when both he and President Bush are answering tough questions about the rationale for war in Iraq and the quality of prewar intelligence. Blair said even if it turns out that the intelligence the U.S. and Britain used to justify war with Iraq is faulty, history "will forgive" the toppling of Saddam Hussein's government. 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. Blair, who is appearing later in the day at the White House with President Bush, has steadfastly supported the war, and has said he believes that Saddam Hussein's regime was in the midst of an aggressive campaign to develop weapons of mass destruction. "I believe with every fiber of instinct and conviction I have that we are" right in having decided to go to war without broad international support, Blair said. British intelligence also stands by its contention that Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger prior to the war, but that hasn't stopped two parliamentary committees from probing the use of intelligence to bolster the case for war. Those panels are looking at two claims: whether Iraq was capable of deploying some chemical or biological weapons within 45 minutes and whether the intelligence about Niger was completely unreliable. Earlier in the day, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she planned to ask Blair about intelligence sourced to the United Kingdom that Bush used as a point for making the case for war in Iraq. Bush cited in his State of the Union speech intelligence attributed to the British that said Iraq was trying to purchase from Africa uranium for making nuclear bombs. The information turned out to be based in part on faulty intelligence. "I will ask the prime minister if the United Kingdom has been asked to share the source and content of all Iraqi nuclear material acquisitions efforts in Africa, and if so, whether that information was provided to the U.S. If not, why not?" Pelosi said Thursday. Rep. Martin Frost, D-Texas, who supported the bill authorizing war in
Iraq, said that despite questions for the administration about the intelligence, Blair will likely get a warm reception on Capitol Hill. He said the problem isn't with Blair but with the White House's refusal to listen to his own intelligence community's doubts. Indeed, Blair received several rousing rounds of applause and earned hearty laughter when he expressed some mixed emotions about receiving the
Congressional Gold Medal. He said the first winner of the medal was
George Washington, who won it for defeating the British. But Blair was very serious in his remarks about what he called the "virus" of terrorism. He said the fight can't be won just by armies. "Our ultimate weapon is not our guns, but our beliefs," Blair said. "When we invade Afghanistan or Iraq, our responsibility does not end with military victory," he added. "Finishing the fighting is not finishing the job. We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it." While the White House acknowledges it should have left out from the speech the questionable intelligence, spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday that "the British have been very clear that they stand by that statement." Blair arrived in for the roughly seven-hour visit at Andrews Air Force Base and was immediately whisked off to Capitol Hill. He and Bush were meeting afterward and were to discuss several other issues. Two Britons are still in a military prison in Guantanamo Bay, arrested during the military operation in Afghanistan. The United States plans to try them in a military tribunal. More than 200 British lawmakers have signed a parliamentary motion protesting America's plans to try Moazzam Begg, 35, and Feroz Abbasi, 23, in a military court. The British government says it has "strong reservations" about such a process and prefers to try them in Britain, where they won't be exposed to the death penalty.. "This is an issue which is subject to continuing discussions with the Americans," a Blair aide said. Also on the agenda will be discussions on North Korea's nuclear ambitions and what to do about the war-torn West African nation of Liberia. White House aides say the two will also discuss the Mideast, the ongoing war on terror and the still incomplete mission in Afghanistan. Since taking office, Bush and Blair have forged an uncommonly strong relationship, which surprised many since Blair's politics and style were often observed to be more in line with President Clinton than President Bush. Some British political observers are wondering if cracks are starting to develop in the U.S.-British relationship as a result of the uranium story, which Bush placed squarely in the hands of the British. Greg Hurst, parliamentary correspondent for the Times of London, said that it won't be in Blair's interest to make too much of the intelligence story. Instead, Blair will focus on other issues. "[Blair] must show his own party back at home in Britain that he can get return from his close relationship with George Bush. He must show his role is not merely a cheerleader to George Bush, a poodle as some people claim here, that he can influence American policy," Hurst told Fox News. After his stop in the United States, Blair continues on a seven-day tour that takes him to Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong. North Korea, which announced last week that it has finished reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods that can be used to build weapons, will continue to be a part of the prime minister's discussions, particularly in China, which has considerable leverage over North Korea because of its fuel and food assistance. Fox News' Brian Wilson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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