British PM Blair defends close ties to US

DUBAI/LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday defended his nation's close alliance with the United States and dismissed charges that the relationship has damaged Britain's credibility in the West Asia.

Blair responded to an influential think-tank's report on British foreign policy during his term in office, which said he had been unable to prevent a drop in Britain's standing in the West Asia because of his ties with Washington and his support for the ''terrible mistake'' of the US-led Iraq war.

''Britain having a strong relationship with the United States of America has been a cornerstone of our policy for years and years and years and...if (we) give it up...we will pay a very heavy price in the future,'' Blair said during a stop in Dubai on the last leg of a West Asia tour.

Blair said leaders in the region listened to him precisely because Britain had such close ties to US President George W Bush, the direct opposite of the contention made in the report by think-tank Chatham House.

The British Prime Minister said there would be no progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace, or on any other major foreign policy issue from Iraq to climate change, without Washington.

''You won't find a situation in which you are able to make progress in Israel-Palestine without America and everybody knows that,'' Blair told reporters in Dubai.

''So us having a strong relationship with America is one reason why when I come and discuss the Israel-Palestine issue out in the West Asia, you are having a different type of conversation, precisely because you've got the relationship with America,'' he added.

Chatham House said that Blair had made a huge error by backing the US-led war in Iraq and had failed to coordinate a European response that might have tempered Washington's actions.

It said Blair's successor -- due to take over when he steps down next year -- should carve out a leading role for Britain within Europe.

''The root failure (of Blair's foreign policy) has been the inability to influence the Bush administration in any significant way despite the sacrifice -- military, political and financial -- that the United Kingdom has made,'' Chatham House said in its report.

The Iraq war had led to a ''debacle'' that will have repercussions on policy for years, the report said.

''RIDICULOUSLY WRONG'' British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the report was ''ridiculously wrong'' and that Blair's influence ''continues to be substantial'' among governments and negotiators.

Blair said he had not seen the report but he said it was a ''myth'' his relationship with Washington caused a problem.

A number of West Asia experts agree with Chatham House that Blair's staunch support for Bush over the Iraq war and over the July-August Israeli war with Hezbollah guerrillas have left him without influence in the West Asia.

London and Washington both failed to urge an immediate ceasefire in Israeli shelling of Lebanese villages.

Blair, however, believes he can play a role in reviving West Asia peace as an intermediary between Arab and Israeli leaders, the United States and the European Union.

His spokesman said Blair, who will resign next year, had made progress during his peace drive that began in Turkey and took in Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories where he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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