Demokratiene står overfor en langvarig kamp mot en uforsonlig fiende, og trenger derfor å ivareta sitt forsvar. De kan ikke bare drive fredsskaping, men må være villig til å føre krig, sa statsminister Tony Blair fredag.

Mr Blair warned that, following the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, Britain faced an enemy akin to «revolutionary communism in its early and most militant phase».

«A world-wide movement, with an ideology based on a misreading of Islam… Its belief system may be utterly reactionary, but its methods are terrifyingly modern,» he said.

Mr Blair warned that the battle to defeat this new threat would be long.

«It has taken a generation for the enemy to grow. It will, in all probability take a generation to defeat.»

Mr Blair said his choice for Britain’s armed forces was for them to prepare to engage in a «difficult, tough, challenging campaign».

«To be war-fighters as well as peacekeepers.»

To make that choice, it was important that the covenant between the armed forces, the government and people was renewed.

«For our part, in government, it will mean increased expenditure on equipment, personnel and the conditions of our armed forces, not in the short run but for the long term,» Mr Blair said.

«On the part of the military, they need to accept that in a volunteer armed force, conflict and therefore casualty may be part of what they are called upon to face.

«On the part of the public, they need to be prepared for the long as well as the short campaign, to see our participation alongside allies … as a necessary engagement in order for us to protect our security and advance our interests and values in the modern world.» Mr Blair concluded by saying that the world had changed and we had to change with it.

Blair sa også at det var fristende for politikerne å la det nødvendige og krevende vike for det behagelige og bekvemme.

Blair pledges increased military spending as he defends intervention