'Total Solidarity'.(War on Terrorism)

The persuader, as the British press has dubbed him for his high-profile role in the current crisis, was indefatigable last week. On Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Tony Blair dined with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder in Berlin; on Thursday morning, it was breakfast with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris, and later the same day, he attended a memorial service for the World Trade Center victims in New York before his powwow with President George W. Bush over a scallops-and- veal dinner at the White House. Then the two men headed off to Capitol Hill, where Bush delivered his ringing address to the nation as Blair joined in the applause. Looking up at his guest in the gallery, Bush more than reciprocated. "Thank you for coming, friend," he declared. Finally, it was back across the Atlantic for Blair, this time for a Friday gathering of European leaders in Brussels, nailing down a common pledge to support "any riposte" to the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Bush received a stream of visitors and potential coalition partners last week: along with Chirac and Blair, Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, among others. All of them pledged their support in the battle against terrorism. But none has been more determined than Blair in making sure that Britain and as much of the Continent as possible will stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the Americans. "It's a huge and heavy responsibility," Blair acknowledged, speaking of the likelihood of a military strike by U.S., British and possibly French troops. "But what has heartened me is the understanding that I found with every other leader I've spoken to of the necessity of not flinching from action here. We have no option but to act."

Still, maintaining a consensus won't be easy. As the Parisian daily Le Figaro put it on the eve of the Brussels summit, the 15 European Union members "are rallied by the emotion of last week, united in determination this week, [but] will the Fifteen still be shoulder to shoulder when the action begins?" The initial pledges of "total solidarity" with the Americans were accompanied by, at the very least, cautionary or sometimes outright contradictory notes. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruled out sending his country's troops into action, and then reversed himself. "We will deploy troops if we are asked to do that," vowed Defense Minister Antonio Martino. Other leaders gingerly suggested that their support for Washington shouldn't be seen as a blank check, particularly when it came to the participation of their troops. "Germany is willing to accept risks, also in military terms, but not adventures," Schroder explained.

Even Blair's team had its early qualms. One key reason for the prime minister's offensive was to enlist a "broad coalition" that would ensure that the hawks in the Bush administration--most notably Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz--wouldn't carry the day with their arguments that Iraq should be targeted for its alleged sponsorship of the terrorists. "There's no evidence on Iraq," says a British official. "Playing the Iraq card is highly offensive." But Blair denied that his diplomacy had anything to do with "restraining" anyone in Washington. In fact, Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, clearly a favorite of the Europeans, ...