A Principled Ally

As British prime minister, Tony Blair was true to his belief in internationalism.

EXCUSE US if we choose not to join those on both sides of the Atlantic who are condemning Tony Blair for his unswerving commitment to alliance with the United States during 10 years as British prime minister. It's understandable that some in London might nurse anti-Americanism or prefer that their country align itself more frequently with France, Germany and the European Union. But it's a little perverse that Americans would be faulting Mr. Blair for his support for U.S. leadership, for his wholehearted commitment to war against Islamic extremism after Sept. 11, 2001, and for his refusal to abandon the coalition in Iraq when the going got tough.

Mr. Blair's relationship with George W. Bush is apparently unforgivable for many: He has been regularly taunted as "Bush's poodle." Anyone who cares to examine the record of the longest-serving Labor Party prime minister knows this is not the case. Mr. Blair committed himself to an internationalism that does not shrink from confronting the world's most evil regimes -- and to addressing the menace of Saddam Hussein in particular -- long before President Bush took office. "We are all internationalists now," he said in a landmark speech in Chicago in 1999. "We cannot turn our backs on conflicts and the violation of human rights within other countries if we want still to be secure."

Mr. Blair's support for the Iraq invasion rose from his own convictions, which were clearer and more principled than those of Mr. Bush. He argued that in the aftermath of Sept. 11 the world could no longer afford to allow aggressive tyrants such as Saddam Hussein to openly defy the United Nations. "We had to confront the states with WMD. We had to take a stand. We had to force conformity with international obligations that for years had been breached with the world turning a blind eye," he said in a 2004 speech. Subsequent events have made Mr. Blair's judgment about Iraq look bad, though the final outcome of the war is not yet known. But the notion that he fabricated a case for invasion or swallowed one handed to him by Mr. Bush is insupportable. That his determination to commit British troops was driven in part by a belief that Britain should stand with the United States in time of war only adds to the debt this country owes him.

Within hours of giving up the prime minister's post, Mr. Blair took on the formidable task of serving as an international envoy to the Middle East. Charged with helping the Palestinian Authority to build institutions, he follows a long line of Western envoys who have failed at that mission in recent years. It's hard to be optimistic that Mr. Blair will have more success than his predecessors; he will perform a service if he can prevent the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the West Bank and Gaza from growing still worse. That he would take on the job at this time only demonstrates again that Mr. Blair doesn't shrink from acting on his political convictions -- even if it means taking a pounding that he doesn't deserve.