The Big Loser of the Iraq War

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is running for re-election tomorrow, and it does not look good for him.

Blair's problem is of course, Britian's involvement in the Iraq War; while his party will not lose the election outright, Blair might be weakened enough to demand a new leader.

How I used to hate the man.

He symbolized to me the spreading of the Clintonian, substance-less "third way" politics of opinion polls and image that had dominated the American landscape of the 1990s. He seemed to me the type of guy that would do anything to get elected.

I thought the world had enough of those kind of leaders.

I thought Britain would be harmed by such a man.

In this case I was very wrong.




Tony Blair, more than any world leader, has stuck his neck out for the United States, taking such a brave stance against the threat of terrorism that it will hurt him in the polls tomorrow.

Prior to September 11, 2001, relations were relatively cool between the men, and, if memory serves, the PM's Labour party sent political consultants to the U.S. in 2000 to help the Gore campaign in America's election. This was not entirely unusual, as U.S. Republicans and Democrats usually fly to England to serve similar purposes.

Yet Blair was one of the first world leaders to come to our aid. He was, for the most part, the only one to stay there. As the leaders of Europe, and elsewhere, retreated from Iraq due to opinion polls at home, he did not.




In Bob Woodward's book "Bush At War," Dick Cheney is quoted as saying that when the going got tough in the war on terrorism, only Britain would ultimately stand by their efforts. So far, he's been right.

I have not fully wrestled with the wisdom of the Iraq war, and do not mean to congratulate him on participating in it.

But I do owe Mr. Blair an apology.

I thought you would stand for nothing. I thought you'd follow opinion polls wherever they took you. I thought you'd do whatever it took to keep your job.

I was wrong about that.

You were courageous.

It's unfortunate that in doing so, you may lose your job.

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