Guest Column

Tony Blair's crusade

by Dr. W. Andy Knight

January 31, 2003 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been the most articulate spokesperson for the American administration on the issue of the need to disarm Iraq. His high moralizing tone and tough talk on the issue at times give the impression that he has become the lapdog of the U.S. President George W. Bush. For his loyal support Bush has laid out the red carpet for him whenever he visits the U.S.

However, this siding with Bush has begun to cost Blair loss of popular support at home. In recent United Kingdom opinion polls, the majority of the British public (around 65 to 68 per cent) appears to be questioning Blair's apparent subservience to the U.S. There is now an impression that the U.K. Prime Minister is so distracted by the war on terrorism and the pending attack on Iraq that he has been ignoring the domestic economy and social conditions in Britain.

Blair cannot be faulted, however, for his focus on delivering the West from evil. His righteous crusade has resulted in a major British contribution to the severe setback suffered by al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He has also helped round up several 'sleeper cells' of the al-Qaeda network that had been allegedly plotting another attack on the West. He has now sent 26,000 troops to the Persian Gulf to link up with the 120,000 U.S. forces, all with the intention of providing the muscle that will force Saddam Hussein to disarm.

And yet, most Britons are unconvinced by Blair's argument that Saddam Hussein is so dangerous that military force ought to be used against Iraq. Like many other civil societies, the majority of Brits appear to be willing to let the UN inspection team complete the job of verifying whether or not Saddam has any weapons of mass destruction before plunging with the U.S. into an invasion of Iraq.

One would think that this message from the public would be sufficient to get Blair, a man known for his reliance on public opinion for the development of policy, to do an about turn. His recent speeches, however, demonstrate a resolve to do what he considers is "the right thing," in spite of the views of his public. Blair is also losing whatever leverage he had among leaders in the European Union by giving the appearance of being a lackey of the U.S. Despite the damage this has done to his popularity across Europe, Blair shows no indication that he will back away from his position on Iraq.

What has caused this highly intelligent man with strong leadership qualities to fall in line so submissively with the Bush administration? The answer may lie in his strong religious conviction. It certainly has little to do with political ideology. Bush and Blair are not the close ideological cousins that Blair was with the former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

When one listens to Blair these days, one gets the distinct impression that he is on a crusade to save the world from the 'bad' forces of extremism. He seems genuine in his belief that the U.S. and the U.K. share trans-Atlantic 'Christian' values and are being a force for good in this fight against terrorism and the autocratic Saddam. Blair is too smart to be simply written off as Bush's 'obedient lapdog', as some in the media have pronounced. If anything, Blair has presented the case against Saddam in more rational and articulate terms than has George Bush. It would appear that there is a genuine meeting of hearts between these two leaders that is linked to strongly held Christian religious beliefs. In other words, both Blair and Bush appear to be on a righteous campaign that pits fundamentalist Christianity and so-called western civilization against extremist Islam.

More than anything else, this unites the two leaders. And one should not be too surprised if this 'like-minded' crusading spirit causes both Bush and Blair to suffer the same fate at the hands of their respective electorates, should things go badly in Iraq.

Dr. W. Andy Knight is professor of International Relations at the University of Alberta and editor of Global Governance journal.

Other Guest Columns by Dr. Andy Knight

Coercive inspections on Iraq: this time things will be different (ExpressNews, November 22, 2003): http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/ideas.cfm?p_ID=3419&s=a
Iraq's clandestine nuclear program (ExpressNews, November 1, 2002): http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/ideas.cfm?p_ID=3291&s=a
Attacking Iraq: the cost of courting Russia (ExpressNews, October 4, 2002): http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/ideas.cfm?p_ID=3122&s=a
Afghan interim government needs deft politicians (ExpressNews, January 25, 2002): http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/expressnews/articles/ideas.cfm?p_ID=1582

Related links – internal

Dr. W. Andy Knight's U of A Web page: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~polisci/faculty/knight.html
The U of A Global Governance Web site: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/globalgovernance/english/index.htm

Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=3819

Experts mentioned in this article

Professor Andy Knight
http://www.experts.ualberta.ca/expert.cfm?id=40240