British prime minister Tony Blair visited Baghdad on December 21. Excerpts from Blair’s remarks at his press conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Iyad Allawi, are reprinted below.
THE DANGER that people feel here is coming from terrorists and insurgents who are trying to destroy the possibility of this country becoming a democracy. Now where do we stand in that fight? We stand on the side of the democrats against the terrorists. And so when people say to me, “Well, look at the difficulties, look at the challenges,” I say, “Well, what’s the source of that challenge?” The source of that challenge is a wicked, destructive attempt to stop this man, this lady, all these people from Iraq, who want to decide their own future in a democratic way, having that opportunity. . . .
I feel a great sense of honor and also humility at being here, and I would like to thank [Prime Minister Allawi] for your leadership and the immense courage that you and your colleagues have shown.
I’ve just visited members of the electoral commission and met some of their staff, and I said to them that I thought that they were the heroes of the new Iraq that’s being created, because here are people who are risking their lives every day in order to make sure that the people of Iraq get a chance to decide their own destiny democratically.
And I’d just like to say this very strongly to the outside world: Whatever people’s feelings or beliefs about the removal of Saddam Hussein and the wisdom of that, there surely is only one side to be on in what is now very clearly a battle between democracy and terror.
On the one side you have people who desperately want to make the democratic process work, and want to have the same type of democratic freedoms other parts of the world enjoy, and on the other side people who are killing and intimidating and trying to destroy a better future for Iraq. . . .
I’ve nothing but admiration for you and for your colleagues and everyone here, whether from the international community or Iraqis who are trying to make this country better, and you deserve our praise and our support and also our gratitude because you’re striking an important blow for democracy everywhere. . . .
When I meet the people working alongside the United Nations–Iraqis in fear of their life every day, because they are trying to bring freedom and democracy to their people–when I see their courage and their determination and know that they speak for the vast majority of people in Iraq who want that democracy and freedom, then I know that we are doing the right thing. . . .
And I will also say this to you: There are people dying in Iraq, but the reason people are dying is because of the terrorism and the intimidation and the people who are deliberately killing anyone trying to make this country better.
Now what should our response be as an international community? Our response should be to stand alongside the democrats–the people who’ve got the courage to see this thing through–and help them see it through. I’ve got no doubt at all that that is the right thing for us to do. . . .
And I think that everyone understands that obviously there will be violence that will continue even after an election. On the other hand, we will then have a very clear expression of democratic will. And what is interesting to me was talking to the United Nations officials here who were first of all absolutely committed to the electoral process and secondly said to me in the strongest terms that all the work they were doing in every part of the Iraqi community indicated people actually do want to participate. There is intimidation in certain areas but no shortage whatever of people’s desire to participate in democratic elections. . . .
Sometimes when I see some of the reporting of what’s happening in Iraq in the rest of the world, I just feel that people should understand how precious what has been created here is. And those people from that electoral commission that I described as the heroes of the new Iraq–every day . . . a lot of them aren’t living in the Green Zone, they’ve got to travel in from outside. They do not know at any point in time whether they’re going to be subject to brutality or intimidation, even death, and yet they carry on doing it. Now what a magnificent example of the human spirit–that’s the side we should be on.
–Tony Blair, for the Editors
