TONY BLAIR DELIVERS HISTORIC SPEECH AGAINST IRAN - BBC IGNORES

What does a Prime Minister have to say to get noticed by his own government-funded media?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair wrapped up a Middle East tour Wednesday with a stark speech warning the world faces a monumental struggle between moderates and extremists - and labeling Iran the main obstacle to hopes for peace. In an address to businesspeople and journalists in Dubai, Blair said that combating extremism and the violence it foments was the greatest challenge of the 21st century. He said the lesson he had drawn from his five-day Mideast trip was "startlingly real, clear and menacing. ... There is a monumental struggle going on worldwide between those who believe in democracy and moderation, and forces of reaction and extremism," Blair said.

"We have to wake up. These forces of extremism - based on a warped and wrongheaded misinterpretation of Islam - aren't fighting a conventional war. But they are fighting one, against us - and us is not just the West, still less simply America and its allies," Blair said. "We must therefore mobilize our alliance of moderation in the region and outside of it to defeat the extremists." On Wednesday he identified his chief foe in the region - the government of Iranian Presiden Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Iran is a sponsor of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon's Hizbullah.

He said the fate of the Middle East, "for good or ill," would be felt around the world."It's not too late," his prepared remarks said, "but it is urgent."

Meanwhile, the BBC buries their article on the speech, denigrating Blair, and playing down the civil war in Gaza. Note the scare quote around "strategic challenge".

Blair and the 'strategic challenge' of Iran

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair's attack on Iran as a "strategic challenge" raises the rhetoric in a war of words between Iran and the West that is escalating with the possibility of a worse confrontation to come. Speaking on Iran's doorstep in Dubai at the end of a tour of the Middle East, Mr Blair chose to single out Iran as he called for an "alliance of moderation in the region and outside of it to defeat the extremists". "A large part of world opinion is frankly almost indifferent. It would be bizarre if it weren't deadly serious," he said. This really puts paid to any lingering hopes that Iran might be seen as a help, not a hindrance over Iraq.

I'd like to meet the people who believe that there was EVER a hope that Iran would help. I'm sure one could not find a more motley group of aging, ponytailed hippies anywhere this side of the Renaissance Fair. I mean, I recognize that there are "serious" people (how do you like my scare quotes?) within our own government who believe we need to sit down with Iran to negotiate peace in Iraq (and, oh, by the way, give Israel over to destruction while we're at it), but please forgive me if I see all these people as the 2006 equivalent of the French Vichy Government. And mostly anti-Semites.

The BBC would like us all to take a nice train ride to Teheran. I, for one, choose not to get on that train.