Monday, April 19, 2004
God Bless Tony Blair
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: "Thank you very much, Mr. President. George and Laura, thank you very much for welcoming myself and Cherie back to the White House. The many years that -- particularly most recently, since September the 11th -- our two countries have been friends and allies standing side-by-side, and we will continue to do so.
Let me restate the historic nature of what we're trying to achieve in Iraq. It is to take a state that, under Saddam Hussein and his family, was a merciless tyranny that brutalized the country over many decades, that used chemical weapons against his own people, a state that threatened its neighbors in the wider world, that caused two wars with over a million casualties, that funded and supported terrorism; a country where, already, the remains of 300,000 innocent men, women and children have been found in mass graves in Iraq; a state that under Saddam was without human rights, civil liberties, or the rule of law. And our task is to take this state and turn it into a democracy, stable and prosperous, a symbol of hope to its own people and throughout the whole of the Middle East.
Against us in this task ranged every variety of reactionary forces: sympathizers of Saddam Hussein, outside terrorists, religious fanatics. We know the future that they have in mind for the people of Iraq, and we reject it utterly, as do the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people.
It was never going to be easy, and it isn't now. I pay wholehearted tribute to the American and British troops and troops from all the different coalition countries; and to the civilians, also, from many nations. We mourn each loss of life, we salute them and their families for their bravery and their sacrifice.
And our promise to them, in turn, is very clear. It is to succeed, to get the job done, to ensure their courage and their sacrifice has not been in vain. And our plan to do this is clear, and we shall see it through.
Our strategy, political and military, is as follows. First, we stand firm; we will do what it takes to win this struggle. We will not yield, we will not back down in the face of attacks either on us or on defenseless civilians. Second, we hold absolutely to the 30th of June timetable for the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis, themselves. Third, we will redouble our efforts to build the necessary capability of the Iraqis, themselves, to take increased responsibility for security and law and order; the measures for recruiting, training and equipping Iraqi police and civil defense corps will be intensified. Fourth, we will carry forward the plan for reconstruction and investment in Iraq so that all parts of Iraq -- Sunni, Shia and Kurdish -- know that they have a place and a future in the new Iraq that is being created. Fifth, the U.N. will have a central role, as now, in developing the program and machinery for political transition to full Iraqi democracy. And we will seek a new U.N. Security Council resolution to embody the political and security way forward.
It follows from this that the political and military strategies will reinforce each other, as they do now. The purpose of the military action is to create the security environment in which the political aims can be achieved. And of course there will be resistance. We have resistance now by assorted terrorists in Fallujah, by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. We shall deal with both with the right balance of firmness in the face of terror and a clear offer to all people in Iraq, including those who might be tempted to support lawbreaking.
The new Iraq will give opportunities to all its citizens, whatever their ethnic or religious background, but it will not tolerate or compromise with those who want to wreck the future for the law-abiding majority in Iraq.
Alongside this strategy for Iraq, we will seek to broaden the agenda for international action and cooperation. The G8 gives us the chance, under the chairmanship of the United States this year and Britain the next, to construct such an agenda; to allow us to defeat the security threat, but also to confront the issues upon which the terrorists prey; to tackle the poverty, conflict, religious and ethnic strife which mar so much of the world.
In this regard, we reaffirm again the importance of a solution for the Middle East peace process. We welcome the Israeli proposal to disengage from the Gaza and parts of the West Bank. We want the Quartet to meet as soon as possible to discuss how it can support the Palestinian Authority in particular, economically, politically, and in respect of security, to respond to that offer. We reaffirm that this is part of a process to get us back into the road map, which we continue to believe offers the only realistic route to the two states, Israel and Palestinian, living side-by-side in peace.
We have, therefore, an agenda for Iraq, for change and for democracy in Iraq. We have, also, an agenda to help overcome the problems in our world, the problems not just of terrorism, but the problems in the breeding grounds of terrorism. And I believe that our two countries will continue to play a role as allies and friends in securing not just a decent future for the people of Iraq, but a decent future of people everywhere in our world today."
This guy is priceless. Beyond compare.
PRIME MINISTER BLAIR: "Thank you very much, Mr. President. George and Laura, thank you very much for welcoming myself and Cherie back to the White House. The many years that -- particularly most recently, since September the 11th -- our two countries have been friends and allies standing side-by-side, and we will continue to do so.
Let me restate the historic nature of what we're trying to achieve in Iraq. It is to take a state that, under Saddam Hussein and his family, was a merciless tyranny that brutalized the country over many decades, that used chemical weapons against his own people, a state that threatened its neighbors in the wider world, that caused two wars with over a million casualties, that funded and supported terrorism; a country where, already, the remains of 300,000 innocent men, women and children have been found in mass graves in Iraq; a state that under Saddam was without human rights, civil liberties, or the rule of law. And our task is to take this state and turn it into a democracy, stable and prosperous, a symbol of hope to its own people and throughout the whole of the Middle East.
Against us in this task ranged every variety of reactionary forces: sympathizers of Saddam Hussein, outside terrorists, religious fanatics. We know the future that they have in mind for the people of Iraq, and we reject it utterly, as do the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people.
It was never going to be easy, and it isn't now. I pay wholehearted tribute to the American and British troops and troops from all the different coalition countries; and to the civilians, also, from many nations. We mourn each loss of life, we salute them and their families for their bravery and their sacrifice.
And our promise to them, in turn, is very clear. It is to succeed, to get the job done, to ensure their courage and their sacrifice has not been in vain. And our plan to do this is clear, and we shall see it through.
Our strategy, political and military, is as follows. First, we stand firm; we will do what it takes to win this struggle. We will not yield, we will not back down in the face of attacks either on us or on defenseless civilians. Second, we hold absolutely to the 30th of June timetable for the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis, themselves. Third, we will redouble our efforts to build the necessary capability of the Iraqis, themselves, to take increased responsibility for security and law and order; the measures for recruiting, training and equipping Iraqi police and civil defense corps will be intensified. Fourth, we will carry forward the plan for reconstruction and investment in Iraq so that all parts of Iraq -- Sunni, Shia and Kurdish -- know that they have a place and a future in the new Iraq that is being created. Fifth, the U.N. will have a central role, as now, in developing the program and machinery for political transition to full Iraqi democracy. And we will seek a new U.N. Security Council resolution to embody the political and security way forward.
It follows from this that the political and military strategies will reinforce each other, as they do now. The purpose of the military action is to create the security environment in which the political aims can be achieved. And of course there will be resistance. We have resistance now by assorted terrorists in Fallujah, by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. We shall deal with both with the right balance of firmness in the face of terror and a clear offer to all people in Iraq, including those who might be tempted to support lawbreaking.
The new Iraq will give opportunities to all its citizens, whatever their ethnic or religious background, but it will not tolerate or compromise with those who want to wreck the future for the law-abiding majority in Iraq.
Alongside this strategy for Iraq, we will seek to broaden the agenda for international action and cooperation. The G8 gives us the chance, under the chairmanship of the United States this year and Britain the next, to construct such an agenda; to allow us to defeat the security threat, but also to confront the issues upon which the terrorists prey; to tackle the poverty, conflict, religious and ethnic strife which mar so much of the world.
In this regard, we reaffirm again the importance of a solution for the Middle East peace process. We welcome the Israeli proposal to disengage from the Gaza and parts of the West Bank. We want the Quartet to meet as soon as possible to discuss how it can support the Palestinian Authority in particular, economically, politically, and in respect of security, to respond to that offer. We reaffirm that this is part of a process to get us back into the road map, which we continue to believe offers the only realistic route to the two states, Israel and Palestinian, living side-by-side in peace.
We have, therefore, an agenda for Iraq, for change and for democracy in Iraq. We have, also, an agenda to help overcome the problems in our world, the problems not just of terrorism, but the problems in the breeding grounds of terrorism. And I believe that our two countries will continue to play a role as allies and friends in securing not just a decent future for the people of Iraq, but a decent future of people everywhere in our world today."
This guy is priceless. Beyond compare.
