Here is the letter
sent by more than 50 former British ambassadors to Tony Blair, urging him
either to influence US policy in the Middle East or to stop backing
it:
We the undersigned former British ambassadors, high commissioners,
governors and senior international officials, including some who have long
experience of the Middle East and others whose experience is elsewhere,
have watched with deepening concern the policies which you have followed
on the Arab-Israel problem and Iraq, in close co-operation with the United
States.
Following the press conference in Washington at which you and President
Bush restated these policies, we feel the time has come to make our
anxieties public, in the hope that they will be addressed in Parliament
and will lead to a fundamental reassessment.
The decision by the USA, the EU, Russia and the UN to launch a "Road
Map" for the settlement of the Israel/Palestine conflict raised hopes that
the major powers would at last make a determined and collective effort to
resolve a problem which, more than any other, has for decades poisoned
relations between the West and the Islamic and Arab worlds.
... But the hopes were ill-founded. Nothing effective has been done
either to move the negotiations forward or to curb the violence.
Britain and the other sponsors of the Road Map merely waited on
American leadership, but waited in vain.
Worse was to come. After all those wasted months, the international
community has now been confronted with the announcement by Ariel Sharon
and President Bush of new policies which are one-sided and illegal and
which will cost yet more Israeli and Palestinian blood.
Our dismay at this backward step is heightened by the fact that you
yourself seem to have endorsed it, abandoning the principles which for
nearly four decades have guided international efforts to restore peace in
the Holy Land and which have been the basis for such successes as those
efforts have produced.
This abandonment of principle comes at a time when rightly or wrongly
we are portrayed throughout the Arab and Muslim world as partners in an
illegal and brutal occupation in Iraq.
The conduct of the war in Iraq has made it clear that there was no
effective plan for the post-Saddam settlement.
All those with experience of the area predicted that the occupation of
Iraq by the Coalition forces would meet serious and stubborn resistance,
as has proved to be the case.
To describe the resistance as led by terrorists, fanatics and
foreigners is neither convincing nor helpful.
Policy must take account of the nature and history of Iraq, the most
complex country in the region.
... The military actions of the Coalition forces must be guided by
political objectives and by the requirements of the Iraq theatre itself,
not by criteria remote from them.
It is not good enough to say that the use of force is a matter for
local commanders.
Heavy weapons unsuited to the task in hand, inflammatory language, the
current confrontations in Najaf and Falluja, all these have built up
rather than isolated the opposition.
... We share your view that the British government has an interest in
working as closely as possible with the United States on both these
related issues, and in exerting real influence as a loyal ally.
We believe that the need for such influence is now a matter of the
highest urgency.
If that is unacceptable or unwelcome there is no case for supporting
policies which are doomed to failure.
The signatories are: Brian Barder; Paul Bergne; John Birch;
David Blatherwick; Graham Boyce; Julian Bullard; Juliet Campbell; Bryan
Cartledge; Terence Clark; David Colvin; Francis Cornish; James Craig;
Brian Crowe; Basil Eastwood; Stephen Egerton; William Fullerton; Dick
Fyjis-Walker; Marrack Goulding; John Graham; Andrew Green; Vic Henderson;
Peter Hinchcliffe; Brian Hitch; Archie Lamb and David Logan.
Also: Christopher Long; Ivor Lucas; Ian McCluney; Maureen MacGlashan;
Philip McLean; Christopher MacRae; Oliver Miles; Martin Morland; Keith
Morris; Richard Muir; Alan Munro; Stephen Nash; Robin O'Neill; Andrew
Palmer; Bill Quantrill; David Ratford; Tom Richardson; Andrew Stuart;
David Tatham; Crispin Tickell; Derek Tonkin; Charles Treadwell; Hugh
Tunnell; Jeremy Varcoe; Hooky Walker; Michael Weir and Alan White.
