Blair to slap down 'doom merchants'

Tony Blair will tomorrow tackle head on those Downing Street describe as the "doom merchants", and insist that the war against terrorism is right, is being properly handled and will be won.

Amid growing voices of doubt in Britain and the United States, No10 delivered its fiercest defence yet of the handling of the campaign.

Mr Blair, said his spokesman, is "absolutely of the view that what we are doing is right and that we are achieving results".

In a direct rebuff to the critics, he went on: "You cannot say nothing has been done when everyone of Bin Laden's major terrorist training camps has been destroyed.

"You cannot say nothing has been done when Taliban air defences have been degraded.

"You cannot say nothing has been done when the situation is more conducive to operations on the ground. Just because we have not achieved everything in three weeks - as we never said we would - does not mean we have not achieved anything. We have."

The message, to be reaffirmed and amplified by the Prime Minister in a speech in Wales tomorrow, reflects the concern in London and Washington at what some have seen as a "three-week wobble" over the course of the campaign.

Downing Street drew a sharp parallel with the mood three weeks into the campaign in Kosovo in the Nineties. Then, too, it was pointed out that there were those warning that air attacks alone would do no good and that any action on the ground would fail.

Yet, on this very day, the region's former ruler, Slobodan Milosevic, is making his third appearance before the international court in The Hague, the spokesman said, adding: "Milosevic is in court, the refugees went home and the doom merchants were proved wrong."

There was no guarantee, the spokesman went on, that history would repeat itself, but "we are absolutely clear what we are doing and our resolve to see this through is absolute".

The urgency of that message, in domestic political terms, was sharpened by today's Daily Mirror which gave its whole front page to proclaim: "This war is a fraud," headlining an article by one of the foremost critics, John Pilger.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today appeared to pull back from suggestions that ministers were in favour of a pause in the bombing campaign for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting on 17 November.

Mr Straw said that even in conflicts between Islamic countries, such as the Iran-Iraq war, there had been no such truce.

He said it was important to remember that one of the reasons for the campaign was to prevent terrorists committing another 11 September outrage.

His comments came as Labour MP Glenda Jackson urged Mr Blair to "make a fuss" about human rights in his meeting today with Chinese vice-president Hu Jintao. The former actress said the Prime Minister should bring up issues such as China's occupation of Tibet and its treatment of the banned Falun Gong sect.