Blair defends his Iraq policies, place 'alongside America'

BRIGHTON, England -- Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a defiant defense yesterday of his policies in Iraq and his close alliance with the United States, speaking before a nation and a political party skeptical of both.

''I never doubted after September 11th that our place was alongside America, and I don't doubt it now," Blair said at the annual conference of his Labor Party, where he told an auditorium full of party faithful that while civilians ''tragically die" in Iraq, ''the way to stop the innocent dying is not to retreat, to withdraw, to hand these people over to the mercy of religious fanatics or relics" of the rule of Saddam Hussein.

Blair's defense of his policies on Iraq was notable because the war, which is deeply unpopular with the British public, nearly cost Labor its historic third consecutive election victory in May.

Blair won, but by a close margin amid criticism that he was too eager to follow President Bush to war, and allegations, including from some members of his own party, that he had overstated Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. While Blair has never shied from defending his Iraq policies, analysts said his comments were remarkable for their timing. Party officials have worked hard this week to keep the Iraq debate at a minimum to help maintain harmony at the party's first annual conference since the elections. And public opinion against the war hardened this month following an attack in Iraq that resulted in front-page photos in British papers of a British soldier engulfed in flames.

But Blair said Britain was right to stand with the United States against ''terrorists who use 21st century technology to fight a premedieval religious war utterly alien to the future of humankind."

''He addressed a grown-up party in a grown-up way," said former Labor leader Neil Kinnock. ''It's not going to repair anyone's gastric ulcer, but at least they know where he stands."

''Blair has done what he thinks is right," said Peter Kellner, a political analyst and pollster. ''Even though it's very unpopular, he's taken the view that he should stand there proud and defend what he believes in and not bend to opinion polls."