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Blair Promotes Permanent War Against ’Radical Islam’
29 April 2013
(LPAC)—Appearing Sunday morning on Meet the Press with David Gregory, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair promoted the need for a permanent war against the ideology of radical Islam, and fully defended the Iraq invasion of 2003—on the jaded argument that the 8-9 years of insurgency that followed proved that the West is in a perpetual ideological war against radical Islam. Asked whether he still defended the decision by himself and George W. Bush to invade Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Blair blustered, "What I thought was that — you see removing Saddam happened within a matter of weeks. You then spent the next eight, nine years in a different type of battle. And that was a battle against precisely the forces that are trying to destabilize the Middle East today. Al Qaeda on the one side, Iran on the other side, and this toxic cocktail, if you like, of religion, politics, ethnicity, tribalism. "So although — I never said the two things would lead in that direct sense, 9/11 and Iraq, I think the difficulties we ended up encountering in Iraq were difficulties that arose from precisely this force of terror unleashed by religious extremism. And I think that’s, frankly, what we still face today if you see what’s happening in Syria today that entirely encapsulates it as it does across North Africa, Yemen, further afield, countries like Pakistan and of course Iran." "...And I think the trouble is the lessons themselves are subject of great and heated debate. My view is that in the end the whole of the Middle East and beyond is undergoing this period of huge transition where you have these dictatorial regimes whose time is up. "On the other hand, the battle for the future is between what I would call the modern minded types of people, the people who took to the streets first in Egypt, who want what we want. But against them are various groups, Islamist groups, that I’m afraid don’t have the same concept of democracy or freedom that we do. And if any of them get hold of the potential to engage in mass destruction, we’ve got a huge problem on our hands." "...And the fact is, I’m afraid, that this ideology is being pumped around websites, is being encouraged by people in many different parts of the world. And it’s there and it’s very hard for us to deal with. "The first obligation of a government that’s trying to protect its people. But then you’ve got to cast out this ideology. I think this is very similar to the fight we faced in the 20th Century against first of all fascism and then revolutionary communism. You know, it’s an ideology, it’s not got one command and control center. It’s not a — you’re not talking about a country, but you are talking about an ideology based on a possession of religion which has an enormous force. If you don’t deal with this issue, this long-term question, this ideology based on a perversion of the religion of Islam, you are going to end up fighting this for a long time." [js_] |