Blair brushes off former diplomats’ attack on Iraq and Middle East policy

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday sought to play down the significance of a letter from 52 former top diplomats that delivered a damning indictment of his stand on Iraq and the Middle East.

In an unprecedented broadside, the ex-diplomats many of them experts on the Middle East said their catalyst for action had been the seeming acquiescence of Mr Blair to US President George W Bush's backing for a unilateral Middle East peace plan instigated by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.

"If that is unacceptable or unwelcome, there is no case for supporting policies which are doomed to failure," said the letter, sent to Downing Street on Monday and published in several British newspapers yesterday.

Mr Blair has insisted the proposal which calls for only a limited Israeli pullout from the West Bank, plus an end to any right-of-return for Palestinian refugees does not spell the end for the earlier, internationally-brokered Middle East "road map".

But the diplomats disagreed.

"Our dismay at this backward step is heightened by the fact that you yourself seem to have endorsed it, abandoning the principles which for nearly four decades have guided international efforts to restore peace in the Holy Land," they wrote.

Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said the letter was based on a "false premise" that British policy on the Israel-Palestinian conflict had shifted.

"I think, in many ways, this is a cry of frustration that things are not going as quickly as we would all like, on the Middle East in particular," Mr O'Brien said. "I am not entirely sure where they are coming from."

On Iraq, the former diplomats had equally harsh words about US and British policy, especially in the wake of a dramatic upsurge in insurgent clashes and kidnappings in recent weeks.

"The conduct of the war in Iraq has made it clear that there was no effective plan for the post-Saddam settlement," the letter stated.

"All those with experience of the area predicted that the occupation of Iraq by the coalition forces would meet serious and stubborn resistance, as has proved to be the case."

Mr Blair said it was vital to ensure Iraq became a democracy.

"Whether people were against the conflict or in favour, what is obvious now is that there is only one side to be on and that is the side of the Iraqi people in their journey towards democracy," he said.

Conservative leader Tory leader Michael Howard said: "The letter from the diplomats has to be taken seriously. I think it raises very serious questions that deserve serious answers from the government."

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero yesterday said Spain's entire military contingent in Iraq will have left by May 27.