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The columnists Names join in the media war No 10 must be honest about its role Peter Riddell, The Times (London), October 30, opens his column: Tony Blair is in danger of over-reaching himself, of taking responsibility for more than he can either believe or control. At present, political, military and media expectations are out of line with each other...... The short time horizons of the 24-hour news cycle obviously conflict with the longer term ones of any military campaign. Blaming the media is always satisfying for politicians. But Mr Blair also needs to change his rhetoric. By all means give warning of the long haul, both in Afghanistan and in the broader campaign against terrorism, but also lower expectations...... He needs to be less the war leader and more the convential Prime Minister. ---- Email peter.riddell@thetimes.co.ukUS 'training terrorists in Georgia' George Monbiot, The Guardian (London), October 30, on George Bush's declaration that "any government which sponsors outlaws and killers of innocents have become outlaws and murderers themselves, and they will take that lonely path at their peril" : For the past 55 years it (the United States) has been running a terrorist training camp, whose victims massively outnumber the people killed by the attack on New York, the embassy bombings and the other atrocities laid, rightly or wrongly, at al-Qaida's door. The camp is called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Coperation, or Whisc. It is based in Fort Benning, Georgia, and it is funed by Mr Bush's government. ---------------------- Web site www.monbiot.com
The prime minister's real test to come Hugo Young, The Guardian (London), October 30, on the test if Tony Blair has to break ranks with George Bush: The British war cabinet line is as follows. They see military action confined to Afghanistan, and worry about how it will succeed. That's why we get these casual, bewildering discrepancies about how long the campaign will last. The war part, conceivably, could take a year or three: staggering thought, both economically and strategically. The 50-year campaign, by contrast, is meant to be a description of the political, economic and diplomatic alliance to be forged against terrorists and their harbourers: extraordinary prophesy, but one the British might be led to understand. The American perspective is potentially different, answering America's unique experience last month. It looks to the military option, if necessary spread wide. As is well known, there are important men in Washington who thirst to extend this thing to Iraq..... Mr Blair's undeviating allegiance to Washington so far is justified by the global importance of smashing al-Qaida and bin Laden. It should also strengthen his hand in trying to stop the US extending the purely military campaign, and asserting his place, along with Secretary of State Powell, as a man of realism.... But it's not hard to see the time when the moral fibre in question [invoked in Blair speeches] will be his own, provable by his willingness to make a break.--h.young@guardian.co.ukFeedback welcomed. Email brenmedia@btinternet.com |
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