View from Britain: The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, has warned his forces in Iraq that they will meet resistance and that the objectives of their military campaign will not be reached overnight. Frank Millar, in London, reports
And that warning was dramatically underlined last night by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, who said Saddam Hussein could still be holding back his chemical weapons and might yet be prepared to use them.
Mr Blair was speaking at a news conference in Brussels, where he led the tributes to the first British casualties of the Iraq war. In a salute to the eight commandos who died alongside US comrades when their American CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed several miles south of the Iraqi border in Kuwait, Mr Blair said: "These were brave men who in order to make us safer and more secure, knew the risks, faced the risks and had the courage to serve their country and the wider world."
While the Ministry of Defence withheld details until next-of-kin had been informed, Mr Blair expressed his and the government's condolences and said the tragedy underlined the risks being faced by the British forces now joined in the American-led assault on the Iraqi regime by air, at sea and on land.
Despite these early deaths, which British sources emphasised were not the result of enemy action, Mr Blair said the military campaign appeared to be going well. However, despite what he claimed was evidence of division "at all levels" of the Iraqi regime, the prime minister insisted: "I should warn that our forces will face resistance and that the campaign, necessarily, will not achieve all its objectives overnight."
Confirming that all three of the services were engaged in battle, Mr Blair said: "I believe that the course we have taken is the right one and we will see it through to the end."
While Mr Blair spoke, and as at least eight B-52 bombers took off from RAF Fairford, the Prince of Wales undertook the first of a series of planned royal visits to sustain the morale of service families waiting anxiously at home. Prince Charles spoke to some 100 family members of soldiers of the Parachute Regiment, of which he is Colonel in Chief. On Monday, Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit RAF Honington in Suffolk and the naval base at Plymouth.
In Plymouth yesterday, well-wishers placed cards, flags and flowers at the gates of 3 Commando Brigade's HQ at Stonehouse Barracks in tribute to the eight marines who dies in the helicopter crash as the close-knit community anxiously awaited news of the victims.
Back in London, Sir Michael said forces leading the assault on Basra had seen a lot of evidence of large-scale Iraqi capitulation, evidenced by abandoned equipment and positions. But the Defence Secretary, Mr Geoff Hoon, added people in Iraq would only abandon resistance when they came to believe that the regime was going to collapse.
Mr Hoon was among senior ministers assembled at Downing Street to review the latest stages of the war with Mr Blair upon his return from the EU summit yesterday afternoon.
Before leaving Brussels, Mr Blair - while not denying the continuing Anglo-French fallout over Iraq - chose to emphasise the EU's commitment to playing an important role in the rebuilding of Iraq "in the post-Saddam era" and their agreement, which Mr Blair suggested was shared with President Bush, that the United Nations should be "centrally involved" in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Mr Blair was plainly happy to report that, contrary to suggestions which had reportedly emanated from his own camp, President Chirac had written him a personal note of condolence in respect of the British casualties. "Whatever the differences are, I know we can all come together in the spirit of sympathy at a time like this," he said.
In answer to robust questioning, Mr Blair insisted the division over Iraq had not lessened his enthusiasm for Europe. Rather it remained "an article of faith" for him that Europe must be friend and partner to America and not its rival.
Again asserting the importance of having Britain's voice heard in the debate about a common EU foreign and defence policy, Mr Blair acknowledged there would also have to be an "honest, open and frank" debate about the relationship between Europe and America once the present conflict was ended.
A senior legal adviser to the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, has quit the Foreign Office because of a difference over the legal advice sanctioning the war against Iraq, it emerged last night.
Ms Elizabeth Wilmhurst (54) is understood to be unhappy with the British government's official line that it has sufficient basis for war under UN resolutions. Ms Wilmhurst has been a legal adviser at the Foreign Office for 30 years, and deputy legal officer since 1997. - (Guardian service)