At fault
The atrocity yesterday in Istanbul was the fault of the terrorists who carried it out. They have sole responsibility. Those who argue that Tony Blair is responsible are talking rubbish.The responsibility of our Prime Minister is first and foremost to guarantee (to a reasonable extent) the safety of the British people. The main external threat to that safety is Al Qaeda. There is a reasonable argument to be made that the limited resources we are prepared to spend on defence and security is not being spent in the best way to defeat Al Qaeda, in particular the focus on Iraq is surely drawing men and materiel away from the fight against Al Qaeda.
Iraq cannot be uninvaded, and at present, though this might change, things would probably be made worse by an early withdrawal. But it seems common sense to ask whether for now we have to forget about bring liberty to countries such as Iraq and concentrate our scarce resources in the fight against Al Qaeda.
Furthermore it has to be asked whether Tony Blair has the capacity to deal with this threat. Two things make one sceptical. First is an issue of trust. Most people now believe he is willing ot lie to make the case for war. Thus he will find it harder to convince the public of future threats. Second he seems to lack an ability to focus on the main threat. Few aside from the PM can now believe that, in terms of the national interest and security of the British people, back in March the best use of our stretched armed forces was to depose of Saddam Hussein.
posted by Matthew @ 11/21/2003 01:39:00 PM
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