BRITAIN: British prime minister Tony Blair used a one-hour video testimony to the Iraq Study Group in Washington yesterday to repeatedly press his case that a settlement of the Palestinian-Israel dispute would be the single best way of calming the chaos in Iraq.
Speaking from Downing Street, Mr Blair also set out what he described as a three-part plan for Iraq, including better equipment for the Iraqi army, rooting out sectarianism in the Iraqi security forces and a fairer distribution of resources by the Iraqi government, including oil revenues, among the country's provinces.
No 10 said he did not discuss a timetable for withdrawal of troops or whether the Iraqi government should be set benchmarks to improve its performance. He also did not trawl over past mistakes. Mr Blair apparently asked to be invited to give testimony to the group chaired by James Baker, a former US secretary of state, aware that the inquiry is seen in Washington as the vehicle by which George Bush's Iraqi strategy will be recalibrated.
Mr Blair said: "The biggest single factor in getting moderate Muslim countries to support a new Iraq would be if there was progress on Israel and Palestine, as part of the strategy for the Middle East as a whole."
He said "the way to stop the radicalisation of moderate Muslim opinion is to have a positive strategy of resolving that issue" and this would also be the way to deal with Iran since it would take away their ability to exploit Muslim opinion.
Senior figures in the bipartisan group are said to to be considering urging Mr Bush to reiterate his June 2002 vision for a Palestinian state and even to prepare for a regional conference, modelled on the Madrid peace conference of 2001.
That course is being recommended by Edward Djerejian, a former US ambassador to Syria and founder director of the James Baker Institute for Public Policy.
In words that would be echoed by Mr Blair, Mr Djerejian said: "All of the issue in the Middle East - the Arab Israeli conflict, Iraq, Iran, the need for regionwide political reforms, extremism and terrorism - are inextricably linked. Nothing short of a comprehensive strategy can solve problems and marginalise the radicals."
Mr Blair was encouraged that the questions from the Baker inquiry centred as much on Israel-Palestine as they did on Iraq.