Tony Blair: I just can't say sorry for Iraq

The anguish of a &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2001/02/22/2659.html ' target=_blank>British hostage in Iraq hangs over Prime Minister &to= english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/98/387/10531_Blair.html ' target=_blank>Tony Blair on Thursday as he faces the twin test of a local election and a debate by his Labour Party about the divisive war. Pressure mounted on Blair after Kenneth Bigley, a 62-year-old engineer who has been held in Iraq for almost two weeks, appealed to him on Wednesday to secure his release. He was speaking from the inside of a cage where he was being held. Blair said Britain would respond to Bigley's captors if they contacted his government but said they had not done so yet. The hostage crisis has eclipsed Blair's efforts to switch the focus to domestic policy at his &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2001/04/27/4355.html ' target=_blank>Labour Party's conference, designed to be a springboard for a campaign to win a third term at an election expected in May 2005. Labour, which divided over the war, wraps up its annual meeting with a debate on Britain's troop involvement in Iraq. Blair faces a potentially embarrassing vote on troop withdrawal. In another key test for the prime minister, voters in the northeastern town of Hartlepool, a strong Labour seat, pick a member of parliament in a by-election. A big swing to the opposition could prove humiliating for Labour. Opinion polls say Labour is poised to secure a third term at a general election expected in May but anger over the war has savaged Blair's &to= english.pravda.ru/war/2003/03/17/44475.html ' target=_blank>public trust ratings and could erode his party's massive parliamentary majority next year. Bigley's impassioned appeal was a fresh reminder that Blair's future and Labour's performance remain inextricably bound to Iraq, reports Reuters. According to Newsday, for Tony Blair, sorry seems to be the hardest word. A day after the prime minister expressed regret about bad intelligence on Iraq, delegates at the Labour Party's annual convention were divided over whether they'd heard a genuine apology for the war. In a contrite, conversational speech that won him a standing ovation, Blair said he could apologize for faulty evidence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction -- but he refused to do so for toppling Saddam Hussein. Significantly, Blair shied away from the "S" word. Government aides had briefed evening newspapers, whose deadline fell before Blair stepped to the podium, that he would say. "I know this issue has divided the country. I am genuinely sorry about that." The latter sentence was cut in his address, causing surprise and consternation among reporters. "Sorry, I just can't say sorry for Iraq," read the headline in The Mirror tabloid Wednesday. "Blame me (up to a point)," said the headline in The Independent newspaper. Tony Blair yesterday offered critics of his Iraq war strategy his most contrite justification for the conflict so far but stopped short of an outright apology, removing the word "sorry" from the text of his speech to Labor's Brighton conference in frantic last-minute rewriting. "I know this issue has divided the country. I entirely understand why many disagree," he told the conference. Journalists had been briefed that he would say "I am genuinely sorry about that" between the two sentences, but it was removed. Blair's attempt to assuage party members over Iraq was combined with a bullish blueprint for a 21st century "opportunity society," which won him a five-minute standing ovation from wary delegates. Blair boasted that Labor would deliver equality of choice to all. "Choice is not a Tory word," he said. The prime minister made clear his determination to drive Labor toward a third lease on political power, swatting aside the double interruption of pro-hunting and anti-Iraq protesters in the hall, publishes the Salon.

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