Tony Blair has said he does not regret leading Britain to war in Iraq when he was Prime Minister and has called on the world to take on and defeat Islamic extremists. He believes that, without intervention, the problem will continue to grow in countries such as Afghanistan.
He called for a battle to be waged against militant Islam similar to that fought against revolutionary communism.
In an address last night to a forum on religion and politics in Chicago, Mr Blair said that the world today faced a struggle posed by "an extreme and misguided form of Islam", which threatened the majority of Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
"Our job is simple: it is to support and partner those Muslims who believe deeply in Islam but also who believe in peaceful co-existence, in taking on and defeating the extremists who don't."
The struggle could not be won "without our active and wholehearted participation," he said.
Mr Blair was speaking almost ten years to the day since he gave an address in Chicago at the height of the Kosovo crisis when he set out what he described as a "doctrine of international community" that sought to justify intervention, including military intervention, not only when a nation's interests are directly engaged but also where there exists a humanitarian crisis or gross oppression of a civilian population.
The speech was criticised widely at the time as hopelessly idealistic and even dangerous.
"Probably, in the light of events since then, some would feel vindicated," Mr Blair said last night, but he stood by his stance. 'I still believe that those who oppress and brutalise their citizens are better put out of power than kept in it,' he said.
Defending his intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said the argument that Britain should revert to a more traditional, cautious foreign policy should be resisted.
"The case for the doctrine I advocated ten years ago remains as strong now as it was then," he said, arguing that there was a link between the murders in Mumbai, the terror attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, the attempts to destabilise countries such as Yemen, and the training camps of insurgents in Somalia.
"It is not one movement. There is no defined command and control. But there is a shared ideology. There are many links criss-crossing the map of Jihadist extremism. And there are elements in the leadership of a major country, namely Iran, that can support and succour its practitioners."
Defending the Obama Administration's attempts to engage with Iran, Mr Blair said: "The Iranian Government should not be able to claim that we have refused the opportunity for constructive dialogue, and the stature and importance of such an ancient and extraordinary civilisation means that as a nation, Iran should command respect and be accorded its proper place in the world's affairs." I hope this engagement succeeds.
He argued that the purpose of such engagement should be clear and was about more than preventing Iran acquiring nuclear weapons capability. "It is to put a stop to the Iranian regime's policy of de-stabilisation and support of terrorism."
Listing the conflicts across the world, from Israel through Iraq to the Philippines and Algeria, he said: 'It is time to wrench ourselves out of a state of denial. There is one major factor in common. In each conflict there are those deeply engaged in it, who argue that they are fighting in the true name of Islam."
Mr Blair said that the doctrinal roots of extremism could be traced back to the period in the late 19th and early 20th century where modernising and moderate clerics and thinkers were slowly but surely pushed aside by the hard-line dogma of those, whose cultural and theological credentials were often dubious, but whose appeal lay in the simplicity of the message that Islam had lost its way and departed from the "true faith".
"The tragedy of this is that the authentic basis of Islam, as laid down in the Koran, is progressive, humanitarian, sees knowledge and scientific advance as a duty, which is why for centuries Islam was the fount of so much invention and innovation. Fundamental Islam is actually the opposite of what the extremists preach," he said.
He welcomed President Obama's reaching out to the Muslim world at the start of a new American Administration but warned that it would expose "the delusion of believing that there is any alternative to waging this struggle to its conclusion".
"But the ideology, as a movement within Islam, has to be defeated. It is incompatible not with 'the West' but with any society of open and tolerant people and that in particular means the many open and tolerant Muslims."
He had moved on from believing that the removal of a despotic regime was sufficient to create the condition for progress.
"This battle cannot so easily be won. Because it is based on an ideology and because its roots are deep, so our strategy for victory has to be broader, more comprehensive but also more sharply defined."
Outlining a six-point strategy, he said that this must include using the armed forces to fight where necessary.
"In the use of hard power, we have to understand one very simple thing: where we are called upon to fight, we have to do it. If we are defeated anywhere, we are at risk of being defeated everywhere."
He also advocated "soft" options. "I do not accept at all the view that democracy is unattainable or unaccepted in the Islamic world. On the contrary, eventually it is only by the embrace of greater democracy — albeit by evolution — that this battle will be won."
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Tony Blair
"The tragedy of this is that the authentic basis of Islam, as laid down in the Koran, is progressive, humanitarian, sees knowledge and scientific advance as a duty, which is why for centuries Islam was the fount of so much invention and innovation. Fundamental Islam is actually the opposite of what the extremists preach," he said.
Holy moley. If Tony Blair were a member of LI, and this was part of one of his posts, it would probably be his only post to earn a rep from me.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
Palestine: Zionist Jews come to the land and kick people off, and occupy for 60 years, thats the reason of conflict.
Algeria: Islamic group wins elections, puppet western goverment doesnt like it, cancels everything, all our civil war breaks out, thats the reason why to this day algeria is unstable.
Iraq: Western forces illegally enter Iraq, leading to a creation of local insurgent groups to fight foreign troops.
Afghanistan: almost 30 years of foreign interference has led to the creation of several millitias, the most notable one being the taliban, and continued fighting happens now because the west for 8 years has been occupying.
we could carry on, this is a simple western LIE to say oh yeahhhh all of these conflicts are because of extremist Islam! thats the lie to take the attention of the real causes, everytime you look at the core reason you find westerners behind the root problems.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by The_Prince
Palestine: Zionist Jews come to the land and kick people off, and occupy for 60 years, thats the reason of conflict.
Algeria: Islamic group wins elections, puppet western goverment doesnt like it, cancels everything, all our civil war breaks out, thats the reason why to this day algeria is unstable.
Iraq: Western forces illegally enter Iraq, leading to a creation of local insurgent groups to fight foreign troops.
Afghanistan: almost 30 years of foreign interference has led to the creation of several millitias, the most notable one being the taliban, and continued fighting happens now because the west for 8 years has been occupying.
we could carry on, this is a simple western LIE to say oh yeahhhh all of these conflicts are because of extremist Islam! thats the lie to take the attention of the real causes, everytime you look at the core reason you find westerners behind the root problems.
Ron Paul agrees with you.
Come, let's all be fellows, make life easy on ourselves
let us love, and be loved, no one will have the world for themselves.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by burdenofbeing
Ron Paul agrees with you.
Ron Paul is a good man, he is what you call the real true American, original America and its values is what he represents, what you see today from Obama or the Neocons is a new backward ideology.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by The_Prince
Palestine: Zionist Jews come to the land and kick people off, and occupy for 60 years, thats the reason of conflict.
Algeria: Islamic group wins elections, puppet western goverment doesnt like it, cancels everything, all our civil war breaks out, thats the reason why to this day algeria is unstable.
Iraq: Western forces illegally enter Iraq, leading to a creation of local insurgent groups to fight foreign troops.
Afghanistan: almost 30 years of foreign interference has led to the creation of several millitias, the most notable one being the taliban, and continued fighting happens now because the west for 8 years has been occupying.
we could carry on, this is a simple western LIE to say oh yeahhhh all of these conflicts are because of extremist Islam! thats the lie to take the attention of the real causes, everytime you look at the core reason you find westerners behind the root problems.
well, we can say what we want but the extremists kinda ruined it on the rest non extremists, with the bombs and the treats and the violent flag burning protests and the planes and the.. I could go on. but your right on the fact that the west does interfere and has a long history of colonialism in those places. oil is what interest's the west nowadays.. gotta keep them big fords going, and i do agree that they did cause problems by these actions. but i think violence is not the solution, 2 rongs just dont make a right. dont you think ?
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by The_Prince
Ron Paul is a good man, he is what you call the real true American, original America and its values is what he represents, what you see today from Obama or the Neocons is a new backward ideology.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
Tony Blair realizes a very simple reality. There is widespread terrorist ideology out there that utilizes the Muslim faith for political and propoganda goals. One can argue about what and who they represent, but the reality is there for anybody to see.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is."
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
Tony Blair realizes a very simple reality. There is widespread terrorist ideology out there that utilizes the Muslim faith for political and propoganda goals. One can argue about what and who they represent, but the reality is there for anybody to see.
Tony Blair himself together in cahoots with Bush through their zealous quest for new conquests are the very people who instigated this "reality". He is not the prudent and prophetic visionary you're describing, he's a calaculating, conniving war criminal who plotted with Bush to grab and monoplise the Middle East's incalculably high energy reserves.
If today Afghanistan is a failed state, Iraq is plunged to theabject depths of sectarian strife, Pakistan is teetering on the brink of collapse, Somalia is haven for piracy activity etc. This is ALL the result of the Bush-Blair tandem. You know this very well Keltoi, i do not see how you can possibly act as apologists for these murderous thugs who engaged in the wanton slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people and fundamentally destabilised an entire continent.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
tony blair and george w bush were the biggest terrorists of their time, now it is the turn of brown and obama to terrorise the world.
the muslim world is fighting a defensive war, a war to throw off the shackles of oppression and the ones doing that oppression can only fool other people because they want to be fooled, they dont want to see their country, their people as the aggressors so they turn around and blame the victim.
islam is coming back, you cant stop it, even as you struggle against it you only create more sympathy for it, subhanallah we've even got gitmo guards embracing islam!
i remember telling this to a very british aggressive soldier who came up to us on the dawah stall, he said he had killed taliban, i asked him how many, he said 3, i said ok but i by the grace of Allah have helped many many times more muslims than that here in the uk so you are losing.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
I see the old strategy continues. Avoid what "the brothers in Islam" are actually doing by pointing fingers the other direction.
Enlighten us as to what the "brothers in Islam" are doing. Is their resistance not legitimised by western aggression? do they have no right to defend themselves and their lands? do they not have the universally immutable right to self-determination, or are they destined to be subjected to foreign control all their life?
Do these "brothers in Islam" seek to control the western world or just preserve their own sovereignty. You have to be objective in your analysis rather than engage in fatuous rhetoric.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
Salaam
Its shocking that Tony still doesnt get it that he made a mistake with Iraq and sticking too close to Bush - yet he doesnt learn
Furthermore extremism is a partial reaction to western interference and the corrupt governments- the western interference is not part of the solution but part of the problem. They have supported oppresive dictators for a long time - when its time to take them off innocent people have to pay the price - its a pity.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Zafran
Salaam
Its shocking that Tony still doesnt get it that he made a mistake with Iraq and sticking too close to Bush - yet he doesnt learn
Furthermore extremism is a partial reaction to western interference and the corrupt governments- the western interference is not part of the solution but part of the problem. They have supported oppresive dictators for a long time - when its time to take them off innocent people have to pay the price - its a pity.
I don't think there is anything for Tony Blair to "realise" here. He deliberately led the UK into an unnecessary war which has cost Iraq more than a million lives, daily bombings, intense sectarian strife and division, crumbling infrastructure, rampant corruption, etc. In doing so he served to satiate powerful corporate interests akin to that of Bush in the US.
The international community must set a precedent, that such aggression cannot go unchallenged by indicting these war criminals along with their cronies in israel and the wider Middle East who repress and inhumanely brutalize their own populations.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
Tony Blair realizes a very simple reality. There is widespread terrorist ideology out there that utilizes the Muslim faith for political and propoganda goals. One can argue about what and who they represent, but the reality is there for anybody to see.
Re: Tony Blair calls on world to wage war on militant Islam
format_quote Originally Posted by Dawud_uk
i am totally against tony blair and those like him who wish to impose their way of life upon everyone else, by violence if necessary.
How it goes along with...
Originally Posted by Dawud_uk View Post
i'll be honest with you though, this is not a popularity contest, it doesnt matter if the people want shariah or democracy, it is not a debate a muslim can have as this is a muslim land so it is either they accept shariah willingly or the mujahideen will fight.
This country is dying because of a lack of men, not a lack of programs.
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this is a simple western LIE to say oh yeahhhh all of these conflicts are because of extremist Islam! thats the lie to take the attention of the real causes, everytime you look at the core reason you find westerners behind the root problems.
Palestine: Zionist Jews come to the land and kick people off, and occupy for 60 years, thats the reason of conflict.
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