Is Tony Blair Mr Wonderful or a scary man without a plan?

Nobody really played a blinder in WWII, to be fair. Britain didn't do a lot to help Czechoslavakia and to a much lesser extent Austria. And Donignacio - it was Belgium in WWI, in WWII it was Poland. I think it is a bit rich to condemn terrorism on the one hand and to fund and arm 'freedom fighters' on the other. The US and Britain have both helped put most of the lunatic governments of the world into power to get rid of another government we felt was worse at the time. I can't stand Blair, but at least he is showing some restraint. IDS would certainly have been pictured next to a tank by now. But the question remains, in a war against terrorism, surely terrorism should mean something more objective than just people using violence for something that we disagree with.

Absolutely no one lifted a finger to help Czechoslovakia, I was horrified when I heard what happened there. They were more or less "sold" to Hitler to appease him. Ugh.

I agree with a lot of what's been said. I haven't had much time for any of Tony's Tory-lite policies up to this point but this is the biggest thing he's faced and he's doing okay so far. It's hard to disagree we the idea of taking out Bin Laden in principle, I'm not a big fan of winner takes all capitalism but I'd choose over religious rule (whatever the religion). On the othr hand I'm not sure how it's going to work in practice. For example we know who did the Omagh bombing and Ireland's much smaller than Afghanistan and is not full of people covered from head to toe but we still haven't manage to find those responsible. This suggests we could fail dismally in the find the terrorists bit and just end up bombing loads of starving Afghans. Also not sure about Blair's 'end world poverty' bit. He hasn't managed to deal with British poverty yet.

I'm an American, and I would like to make my remarks to Karl since we have 'spoken' before here. Karl, I cannot speak for America, or all Americans. However, I would like to say a couple of things,and I may not be particularly clear, but I'll try. I love England. Your history, your wonderful people, the ideas put forth by your forefathers who gave us our form of justice, and civilization, which I think continues to be the best. All the people I speak to agree that the Brit's are members of our family, and I mean that literally--your blood is our blood. Our countries sometimes move slowly, or clumsily, sometimes they speak with overly PC tongues, but there is no other group of people that I, and most, love. I fought in Viet Nam, I know what war and battle and being shot is all about, and you know what? I'd fight for you, for England, for all of you strange but wonderful writers here, TODAY. And I mean "Today". I regret we have, in my opinion, a quasi-idiot for a president. But we have to go with what we have for a while. We will change it as soon as we can. I hope. By the way, I don't know why the bin thing above had Richie in it: wasn't me. Rule Britainia David Ritchie The Real One

In reply to the previous American gentleman, thankyou and i'm sure the same goes for us. I have a brother living in N.Y and his wife and my niece and we have spoken often recently about all this mess. Yes you have a scarey president but i feel that his father holds both the reins and the strings - luckily enough. Also we seem to be forgetting that peoples from 40 countries lost their lives in the WTC and just because it happened in N.Y.C i wonder if the world would have reacted in the same manner as it is presently doing if this had occurred in a less - how can we say well off part of the world? As a pacifist i am against violence but it seems our hans is being forced on this and as usual we will be the last ones to be asked do we mind? Martyn

Help.. the FBI is outside my flat man... hey I was only kidding...

whats the American army doing in my garden... It was a joke.. please don't shoot me... HELP! Oh my God there in the streets.. saying stuff like," Bin Laden, come out with your hands up.." but I'am not Bin Laden help... it was only a joke man I am sorry...

Git' a life, Richie! Ritchie The Real One

David Ritchie, Thanks for your kind words. I have to reciprocate your feelings. I love America, the American people and the American way of life. As many regulars will know, I spent several years there myself and still have great friends all over the country, particularly in New York. Friends who volunteer as NY City Firefighters, by the way, so I've been able to catch up on the feeling of the nation from a grassroots point of view. I'm not impressed with Bush. He reminds me of an after-dinner speaker who waiting to crack his next joke. He says the right things (sometimes) but the look in his eyes seems to say that he finds the whole thing amusing. I'm sure he doesn't, of course, but he needs to work on his image. Roy and David Floyd make some excellent comments. How can we deal Bin Laden when we're letting murderers and bombers out of prison to no purpose, and we can't even arrest others?

Karl, you are right, of course. Sometimes it seems to me we are afraid to hurt their feelings or something. I am one of those people who believe that you avoid violence and war at all costs, however, if your hand is forced, you react with harshness and violence to a degree that they think twice about hitting you again. So far, we seem to just me making faces at bullies from across the playground. Good to hear from you. David Ritchie

From what I've read of it, it was apparently an excellent speech, probably written by Geoffrey Archer's now unemployed little band of writers. My respect for Tone grows by the day. I can't say the same for Bush, however. While Tone talks in global terms, using such words as "internationalism" and even "world", Bush still uses the word "America" every other sentence, which kind of demonstrates his true colours. I'll tell you something, if it was London that had been attacked instead of America, Bush wouldn't be so keen on joining in then. Judging by past record that is - WW1, WW2, Falklands. But we backed them straight away in the Gulf, didn't we? And most Americans don't even know it. America should count themselves lucky to have such allies as us. I think they're fair-weather friends. Well done, Tone.

I get the impression that both Blair and Bush look like rabbits caught in headlights when they're speaking about the forthcoming maelstrom. Each shows visible signs of having lost control of the sphincter, probably not unreasonably. Blair, perhaps, manages a scintilla of more statesmanliness.

I agree....Great Britain jumps in without being asked, I feel that if it were us that were attacked first, we would have "ask" America for support. Athough all eyes are on Blair at the moment, he is proving himself as a leader, not a yes man and I think he is doing a fine job. He must have been so unprepared for what is happening, yet he is compassionate for every one involved, not just the states. I still fear for what is still waiting to happen. Not just here and in America, but for the innocent people across the border entangled in this mess.

Apparently in Afghanistan the government is telling people not to put their bins out, just their rubbish.

my boy's turning out quite well is he not?

Hi I was wondering if it would be ok to stay with someone for a few days The whole world is pissed off with me at the moment.. and I need a friend. Osama Bin Laden

Look...I have a barn conversion in the derbyshire dales...if you promise to look after my sheep you can stay for one week....£20000 a night though! Plus I get to sell my story to Hello magazine foe £1888888888 ok?

You can't have it both ways. If America ever "jumped in" to support Britain or anyone else without being asked, then you would complain as you always do about America being a bully and "why don't they stay home." The references to WW1 WW2 and the Falklands demonstrate a profound ignorance of history which would be laughable if it were not so pathetic. Bush talks about America because America has been the only target so far: pay attention to the news. Blair talks about the world because he is trying to help build a coalition around the world to stop these people. That is his role so far and more power to him. A lot of other people are doing the same thing but not so visibly. Duh? This is not really so complex.

Not true Justyn, When it comes to terrorism, the IRA has been attacking the UK for as long as I've been alive. We've all grown up with bombs blowing up pubs and car bombs outside schools. It's become a way of life for us. We all hate the IRA with a passion, yet America invites them to the White House for a cup of tea and a scone. I appreciate it's come as a shock to America to be attacked, and the artrocities in New York and Washington far outweigh a pub being blown up, but we're used to it over here, and no fucker helps us. I repeat, if Bin Laden had flown a plane into Buckingham Palace, Westminster and the City, and Tony Blair went on international TV demanding that the world is either with us or with terrorism, America would sit on the fence - as usual. Yet in this battle, America needs us. The USA has the firepower but not the expertise or the experience on the ground in the Middle East.

I think Blair's doing alright. It's probably thanks to him (and his ilk) that that idiot Insincerity Bush didn't go straight in all guns a'blazin' and wipe Afghanistan (and probably the rest of us, too) off the face of the earth. It could even have been worse, if that's possible - could've been Up-An'-At-Em Duncan-Smith (or, God forbid, Maggie) in power... Could've been better, too, of course - could've been Tony Benn...

I still totally (but respectfully) disagree with Karl Wiggins. In WWI and WWII, Great Britain wasn't the initial target. You guys entered the war because Germany messed with Belgium. After that, Germany started attacking the UK. And on another thread, I attempted to explain why America didn't enter in the war at first. But you have to admit that we were a great help in WWI & WWII. Also, considering that bin Laden has been an enemy of the US for so long, had he attacked the UK, The United States would have joined in the battle as well. I'll acknowledge that we wouldn't have as joined as quickly as the UK did, but we would have speedily joined just the same. There's no sitting on the fence for the US as far as bin Laden is concerned. Remember, he blew up two of our embassies. --- And by the way, Osma bin Laden, in a message post above this one has "Richie" in his e-mail address. Yet another chapter in the Richie Chronicles. (I'm probably the only one obsessed with this thing, aren't I?)