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1 hour, 4 minutes ago |
By ED JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) conceded Monday that President Bush (news - web sites)'s upcoming visit to Britain would spark protests, but he defended the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to bring democracy to Iraq (news - web sites).
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Blair, Washington's closest ally in the war on terror, said he accepted that many people opposed the war on Iraq, but insisted they must now support attempts to restore stability and order to the country.
"In eight days time, President Bush makes his state visit to the United Kingdom," Blair said in the text of a foreign policy speech prepared for delivery Monday.
"For many, the script of the visit has already been written. There will be demonstrations. His friends wonder at the timing, his enemies rub their hands at what they see as the potential embarrassment. I believe this is exactly the right time for him to come."
Bush and wife, Laura, will be the guests of Queen Elizabeth II (news - web sites) and will stay at Buckingham Palace during their Nov. 19-21 visit. The trip comes at a difficult time for both leaders, given the coalition's failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Andrew Burgin, spokesman for the Stop the War Coalition, said the group expects about 60,000 people to join an "Unwelcome Bush" march through London on Nov. 20. In Trafalgar Square, the group will pull down a specially erected statue of Bush, the coalition's Web site said.
Blair's warm relationship with Bush has antagonized many of his Labor Party lawmakers who opposed the war, and anti-war campaigners have promised demonstrations during Bush's visit.
"Protest if you will, that is your democratic right," Blair said. "Attack the decision to go to war, though have the integrity to realize that without it, those Iraqis now tasting freedom would still be under the lash of Saddam, his sons and their henchmen."
Blair said it was vital the coalition succeeded in bringing democracy to Iraq and defeating Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s "small rump of supporters aided and abetted by foreign terrorists."
"It is the battle of seminal importance for the early 21st century. It will define relations between the Muslim world and the West," Blair told the Lord Mayors' annual banquet.
If the coalition managed to bring democracy to Iraq, and leave the Iraqis in control of their oil and future, al-Qaida's "poisonous propaganda" about the United States would be destroyed, Blair added.
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