Blair makes sense?

The Independent:

In his US speech, Mr Blair called for a "complete renaissance" of strategy to defeat international terrorism, suggesting a significant shift in emphasis from military force to the "soft power" of trade agreements and aid. He said: "'To defeat [terrorism] we need an alliance of moderation that paints a different future in which Muslim, Jew and Christian, Arab and Western, wealthy and developing nations can make progress towards peace and harmony with each other. My argument is that we won't tackle the cause of this global extremism unless we win it on the level of values as much as force; unless we show that we are even handed, fair and just".

But among senior ministers, his standing as an honest broker in the region was undermined by revelations that Mrs Beckett urged Downing Street to press President Bush on the issue.

Her advice was rejected, and the Foreign Secretary urged Mr Blair at least to object to the US use of British civilian airports as stop-overs for secret US and Israeli flights to deliver munitions to Israeli forces. But Mr Blair also shrugged off her complaints, leaving Mrs Beckett to make her dissatisfaction clear by saying she was going to demand some answers from the Americans about the use of British airports.