“I am not surprised by anti-Americanism; but it is a foolish indulgence.”

LONDON, January 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Speaking to a two day convention of British envoys, British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said that one of the key priorities of the country's foreign policy is the security of energy sources.

“While the U.S. and Britain deny oil is a factor in the looming war, some British ministers and officials say privately that oil is more important in the calculation than weapons of mass destruction.

“They have pointed to the instability of current oil sources and the need for secure alternatives. Iraq has the second biggest known oil reserves in the world,” reported the Sydney Morning Herald, January 8.

In addition a seven medium to long-term strategic points which were drawn up by the Foreign office were given to the ambassadors. Besides securing oil resources, the points include:

• Maintaining a stable international system based on the United Nations, the rule of law and multilateral co-operation

• Minimizing threats to Britain such as uncontrolled migration, transnational crime and Islamic extremism

• Promoting British economic interests in an open and expanding global economy

• Promoting democracy, good governance and development

• Building a strong European Union in a secure neighborhood.

U.K. newspaper, the Guardian, quoted on Tuesday, January 7, a foreign office source saying: “I can’t say that energy is irrelevant (to the Iraq conflict) but the issue is one we would have to deal with even if Saddam was a cuddly individual.”

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair also spoke to the congregation and told that “Britain’s role in the world today is to act as a “unifier” in helping to establish a new global consensus,” the Telegraph reported.

“We can only play a part in helping this. To suggest more would be grandiose and absurd - but it is an important part,” he added, the paper said.

Blair also told them that it is important to remain “the closest ally of the U.S.” and to “influence them to continue broadening their agenda,” said the paper.

“We are the ally of the U.S. not because they are powerful, but because we share their values. I am not surprised by anti-Americanism; but it is a foolish indulgence. For all their faults - and all nations have them - the U.S. are a force for good; they have liberal and democratic traditions of which any nation can be proud,” Blair told the envoys, reported the Telegraph.

It is massively in our self-interest to remain close allies. But we should use this alliance to good effect. The problem people have with the U.S. is not that, for example, they oppose them on WMD or international terrorism. People listen to the U.S. on these issues and may well agree with them; but they want the U.S. to listen back.

He added that the U.S.’s “choice” to go through the U.N. over Iraq was and important gesture that it desired "to work with others.”

“The price of British influence is not, as some would have it, that we have to do what the U.S. asks. I would never commit British troops to a war I thought was wrong or unnecessary. Where we disagree, as over Kyoto, we disagree. But the price of influence is that we do not leave the U.S. to face the tricky issues alone,” he added, the paper reported.

“The fanatics have to be confronted and defeated - in ideas as well as militarily,” he said adding that the U.S. should not be forced to take on “alone” the issue of disarming Iraq.

“When the U.S. confront these issues, we should be with them; and we should, in return, expect these issues to be confronted with the international community.

“We must reach out to the Muslim world. It is about even-handedness. The reason there is opposition over our stance on Iraq has less to do with any love of Saddam, but over a sense of double standards,” Blair told the envoys.

With regards to the Middle East, Blair also denounced the “terrorism inflicted upon innocent Israeli citizens is wicked and murderous and undoubtedly will bring strong action from Israel. No democratic government could do otherwise.”

The Guardian said that Blair’s speech was an implicit admission that he is losing the political war on the home front.

The fact that Blair “was willing to break with his own precedent of not acknowledging his differences with Washington in public by making such a speech was proof enough on its own,” the paper said.

However, the paper said, the “central issue that Mr Blair did not - perhaps cannot - address is that people here do not have confidence in Mr Bush as a war leader.

“The U.S. may be a force for good, as Mr Blair still claimed yesterday, but it is Mr Bush and his colleagues who are the problem.”