The British Prime Minister has said the tens of thousands expected to protest in London against US President George W. Bush over the Iraq war should recognise the country was better off without Saddam Hussein.
London will mount one of its biggest security operations ever during Mr Bush's visit, which starts on November 19th, as an expected 100,000 people cram London to protest over Iraq.
"Protest if you will. That is your democratic right," Mr Blair said last night at the Lord Mayor's banquet - the prime minister's keynote foreign policy speech of the year.
"Attack the decision to go to war, but have the integrity to realise that without it, those Iraqis now tasting freedom would still be under the lash of Saddam Hussein and his sons.
Mr Blair, routinely lampooned by cartoonists as Mr Bush's "poodle" because of his decision to join the United States in waging war in Iraq, denounced what he called a "poisonous propaganda monster" against the United States and feeding terrorism and extremism.
Mr Blair has seen his trust ratings fall over his support for war in Iraq, especially among many in his own left-leaning Labour Party.
The war also put him at odds with the big continental European powers Germany and France, hurting his aim of acting as a bridge between the United States and Europe.
He said that rift should be healed. "If Europe were to let anti-Americanism define its foreign policy it would be a disaster for Europe, for Britain, for America," he said.