Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday that Britain's influence on the world stage and ability to right global wrongs depends on active engagement, and the country cannot defend itself from terrorism by retreating into isolationism.

He told Royal Navy personnel aboard a warship that Britain must be willing to commit to military action when necessary to pursue laudable goals.

Diplomacy alone cannot solve the world's problems, Blair said in a policy lecture to British servicemen and women aboard HMS Albion, in Plymouth harbor, southwestern England. It needs the military to complement it.

He said the public must see operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan as a "necessary engagement" to protect security and advance British interests globally.

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[Blair wants to secure the traditional British interest in sodomy: fresh asses for the the Brits to peg.]