‘Iraq is Crucible of Fight Against Global Terrorism’ :Blair

THE MUSLIM WEEKLY 2004
In their first meeting since his appointment as prime minister of the Iraqi Interim Government (IIG) in May, Iyad Allawi and Tony Blair held talks in Downing St. on Sunday. The 3 hour talk was initially intended to be a review on progress but is thought to have focussed mainly on security and the issue of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.

Iraq was the “crucible in which the future of this global terrorism will be determined”, stated Blair. He prefaced his speech by his reluctance to talk about Saddam Hussein or the past in general and described the current fight as being between the democrats versus the terrorists, between the ones who choose the ballot box against those who choose the gun, outlining Mr Allawi’s courage in pursuing a free Iraq striving for liberty, democracy and stability. Britain’s Prime Minister stressed that the terrorists were against all the values “that we in countries like this hold dear. The terrorists who are conducting this killing in Iraq, they know what is at stake. And we should know what is at stake as well."

Iyad Allawi while nodding affirmatively to what Mr. Blair had to say, was adamantly clear that elections would take place in January although conceding assistance from the UN was imperative. He described the current uprising as being instigated and executioned by foreign militants taking advantage of disaffected Iraqi youth and fended off a question about the possibility of introducing Martial Law to establish normality.

Both men echoed the urgency to help the Iraqis build their own security infrastructure, thereby decreasing reliance on foreign forces.