Blair defends close US ties

British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended his nation's close alliance with the US yesterday and dismissed charges that the relationship has damaged Britain's credibility in the Middle East.

Mr Blair responded to an influential think-tank's report on British foreign policy during his term in office, which said he had been unable to prevent a drop in Britain's standing in the Middle East because of his ties with Washington and his support for the "terrible mistake" of the US-led Iraq war.

"Britain having a strong relationship with the United States of America has been a cornerstone of our policy for years and years and years and... if (we) give it up... we will pay a very heavy price in the future," Mr Blair said during a stop in Dubai on the last leg of a Middle East tour.

Mr Blair said leaders in the region listened to him precisely because Britain had such close ties to US President George W. Bush, the direct opposite of the contention made in the report by think-tank Chatham House.

The British prime minister said there would be no progress on Israeli-Palestinian peace, or on any other major foreign policy issue from Iraq to climate change, without Washington.

"You won't find a situation in which you are able to make progress in Israel-Palestine without America and everybody knows that," Mr Blair told reporters in Dubai.

"So us having a strong relationship with America is one reason why when I come and discuss the Israel-Palestine issue out in the Middle East, you are having a different type of conversation, precisely because you've got the relationship with America," he added.

Chatham House said that Mr Blair had made a huge error by backing the US-led war in Iraq and had failed to coordinate a European response that might have tempered Washington's actions.

It said Mr Blair's successor - due to take over when he steps down next year - should carve out a leading role for Britain within Europe.

"The root failure (of Blair's foreign policy) has been the inability to influence the Bush administration in any significant way despite the sacrifice - military, political and financial - that the United Kingdom has made," Chatham House said in its report.

The Iraq war had led to a "debacle" that will have repercussions on policy for years, the report said.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the report was "ridiculously wrong" and that Mr Blair's influence "continues to be substantial" among governments and negotiators.

Mr Blair said he had not seen the report but said it was a "myth" his relationship with Washington caused a problem.

A number of Middle East experts agree with Chatham House that Mr Blair's staunch support for Mr Bush over the Iraq war and over the July-August Israeli war with Hezbollah guerillas have left him without influence in the Middle East.

London and Washington both failed to urge an immediate ceasefire in Israeli shelling of Lebanese villages.

Mr Blair, however, believes he can play a role in reviving Middle East peace as an intermediary between Arab and Israeli leaders, the United States and the European Union.

His spokesman said Mr Blair, who will resign next year, had made progress during his peace drive that began in Turkey and took in Egypt, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories where he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.