AS we watched Tony Blair speak at the Azores Summit, we were once again amazed at this man's courage and strength, amidst the terrible backlash from his own people at home.

Here is a principled, moral man, with such strong convictions. You should be thanking your lucky stars you have him!

Tony Blair has little to gain and everything to lose by backing Washington. Does anyone think he would knowingly commit political suicide? Or has he looked at the evidence against Saddam Hussein and paled at the threat that still exists?

We abhor war and we wish to avoid it by all reasonable means. However, we wonder what motivates France's vociferous objections to war, while it fails to offer a reasonable solution for effective disarmament of Saddam.

One suspects bold-faced hypocrisy and self-interest, in view of the millions owned them by Saddam and their signed contracts with Iraq.

Tony Blair is acting on moral principle, and will not back down. He said recently: "I do not seek unpopularity as a badge of honour, but sometimes it is the price of leadership and the cost of conviction."

Now that's leadership -- so different from other leaders who are hiding their moral paralysis behind the fig leaf of UN pre-eminence.

ROY SMITH, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.