But I don’t wish British troops to be sent to war on the basis of virtual reality

But I don’t wish British troops to be sent to war on the basis of virtual reality.In what way has our security situation changed? Because, argues Mr Blair, weapons of mass destruction are being traded right round the world and can fall into the hands of terrorist groups. The “religious fanatics” weren’t engaged in war; they were engaged in crime. Indeed misdescribing 11 September was the first step towards a misconceived response. But if they could have killed 30,000 or 300,000 they would have rejoiced in it.” The key word here is “war”.Many who disagree with the Prime Minister thought at the time that using such language was an error.

What the West had experienced on that terrible day was a great crime. It followed that the perpetrators of what was mass murder needed be hunted down aggressively across the world as criminals not as irregular soldiers. “What galvanised me,” Mr Blair said on Friday, “was that it was a declaration of war by religious fanatics who were prepared to wage that war without limit They killed 3,000. Hitherto the Prime Minister has given the impression that he regarded his opponents as no better than appeasers.The divergence between Mr Blair and his critics goes back to the 11 September attacks on the United States. Yes, these are perfectly respectable views, Mr Blair now says, but wrong This itself is a great improvement.

He can see why people said that Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction, even on the Government’s own case, was not serious enough to warrant war unless there was a specific UN resolution.He also took on board, likewise without approval, his critics’ clinching argument that Saddam Hussein could, in any event, be contained. In the important speech he made on Friday, he said in effect, let’s take each other seriously. If I concede that your arguments opposing the war are perfectly reasonable, even though I don’t agree with them, in turn “believe your political leaders or not, as you will. But do so, at least having understood their minds”.
Thus much more fully than ever before, Tony Blair showed that he comprehended the force of the assertion that Iraq posed no direct, immediate threat to Britain.

The Prime Minister has called for a sort of truce with his Iraq critics. Not that he was afraid of using strong language himself, labelling Gordon Brown “a tax and regulation junkie” and pronouncing Tony Blair “impotent” despite his huge majority.Whereas IDS was “the quiet man”, Mr Howard styled himself as “the angry man” ready to take on a government that has run out of steam He will be making plenty of noise in the months ahead
More from Andrew Grice. And he served notice that they will be bloody.Labour, he warned, would use “scare tactics” to frighten voters about the Tories’ policies. He was giving his party a progress report, a platform for the battles ahead. I expected Michael Heseltine to swing across the stage at any moment. To give his full backing to Mr Howard, of course.The Tory leader held the ring with ease in a confident speech It didn’t really matter that there was no new policy in it.