Blair: British Forces Join Fight in Iraq

March 20 -- Noting that "Britain has never been a nation to hide at the back," Prime Minister Tony Blair said British forces have joined the U.S.-led war on Iraq. In a televised address to the nation recorded hours earlier, Blair said he gave the order for British forces to take part. Following is a transcript of Blair's speech.

Tonight British service men and women are engaged from air, land and sea. Their mission: to remove Saddam Hussein from power and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.

I know this course of action has produced deep divisions of opinion in our country, but I know also the British people will now be united in sending our armed forces, our thoughts and prayers. They are the finest in the world, and their families and all of Britain can have great pride in them.

The threat to Britain today is not that of my father's generation. War between the big powers is unlikely, Europe is at peace, the Cold War already a memory.

But this new world faces a new threat, of disorder and chaos, born either of brutal states like Iraq armed with weapons of mass destruction or of extreme terrorist groups. Both hate our way of life, our freedom, our democracy.

My fear, deeply held, based in part on the intelligence that I see, is that these threats come together and deliver catastrophe to our country and our world.

These tyrannical states do not care for the sanctity of human life. The terrorists delight in destroying it.

Some say if we act we become a target. The truth is all nations are targets. Bali was never in the front line of action against terrorism. America didn't attack al Qaeda; they attacked America.

Britain has never been a nation to hide at the back. But even if we were, it wouldn't avail us.

Should terrorists obtain these weapons now being manufactured and trading round the world, the carnage they could inflict to our economies, our security, to world peace, would be beyond our most vivid imagination.