Britain must not cut and run
November 20, 2006| By Nathaniel Ward
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to step down next year. His likely replacement, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, could engineer “a reversal of Britain’s Iraq policy,” Heritage foreign policy expert Nile Gardiner tells British newspaper The People.
Prime Minister Blair “is right to reject calls for a British withdrawal from Iraq,” Nile Gardiner argues in a new paper. Gardiner, the Bernard and Barbara Lomas Fellow and Director of Heritage’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, explains that Blair’s assessment of Iraq is dead-on. “An early withdrawal of British forces would boost al-Qaeda, risk civil war in Iraq, and severely strain the Anglo-U.S. relationship, to the detriment of the war on terrorism and global security.”
The consequences of a premature British exit would be catastrophic, Gardiner writes. It would result in:
- A propaganda victory for al-Qaeda and its allies as terrorists declare victory and grow bolder in their attacks in Iraq and elsewhere
- Civil war, ethnic cleansing, and a humanitarian crisis as Sunni and Shia groups attack one another on a far greater scale than we’ve seen yet
- The boosting of Iranian influence as British troops abandon Shia-dominated southern Iraq, where Iran already holds some sway
- A strained Special Relationship between Britain and America, dividing two key Western allies at a crucial moment in the war on terrorism
- The undermining of British power as the retreat damages the nation’s prestige and reduces its assertiveness on the international stage
In addition, Gardiner asserts, “the British government’s decision to engage with Iran and Syria is a serious strategic error in judgment that is likely to exacerbate the situation in Iraq rather than improve it.”
Fortunately, Prime Minister Blair has gone on the offensive against what Gardiner calls “the fashionable and increasingly pervasive anti-Americanism in Britain.” The Prime Minister described this trend as “the surest route to the destruction of our national interest,” and he pointed out the need “to keep our partnership with America strong.”
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
