Where Blair has gone

The democratic global values he claims to stand for are unclear to his own countrymen

Thanks to Prime Minister Tony Blair, ill-equipped and overstretched British troops are involved, along with the American armed forces, in an illegal and unwinnable war in Iraq. Blair hitched Britain on to America8217;s bandwagon again when the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted in Lebanon in July, perhaps on the assumption that acting as cheerleader for Washington would burnish his global credentials. On August 1 at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Rome, Britain blocked a French initiative for an EU resolution calling for immediate cease-fire.

To what avail? Realising that Israeli force had not broken Hezbollah, the US sidelined Britain and was receptive to diplomatic suggestions from France. Together, Washington and Paris worked on the UN Security Council resolution 1701 of August 11 which called for a truce in Lebanon. Not for the first time Washington let it be known to London that America has 8216;special relationships8217; with many countries, and that contingency usually decides the degree of 8216;specialness8217; at any given moment.

Britain8217;s closeness to discredited American strategies has left it with little credibility in the Middle East. It has also embarrassed many of Blair8217;s countrymen and his own foreign secretary. It has prompted a Labour MP to resign as a parliamentary private secretary to the defence team. Conservative and Liberal Democrats in opposition have criticised Blair as America8217;s poodle. Some Labour MPs have demanded that Parliament be recalled. Public opinion is weighted against the prime minister.

Both Britain and France had imperial enclaves in the Middle East. France ruled Lebanon from 1920-43. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration provided for the establishment of an independent Jewish homeland even as Britain offered the Arabs independence. Now Britain has antagonised the Arabs by joining forces with the US in Iraq in a bungled military operation. In contrast, France is the only major European country to be on reasonably good terms with all Middle Eastern countries.

Blair sees Britain fighting terror with 8216;global8217; democratic values, but his idea of global values remains vague. The claim that they have something to do with democracy rings hollow. Meanwhile, many Britons rue the decline in their country8217;s standing and influence.