IslamViews of millions of Muslims “fundamentally incompatible with the modern world”: Tony Blair
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has said that “many millions” of Muslims hold a viewpoint which is “fundamentally incompatible with the modern world.” In comments he made over the weekend, Blair rejected arguments that ISIS is merely “tens of thousands of brainwashed crazies,” saying: “[ISIS] does not seek dialogue but dominance. It cannot therefore be contained. It has to be defeated.”
Radical muslim demonstrating against western values // Source: commons.wikipedia.org
Former British prime minister Tony Blair has said that “many millions” of Muslims hold a viewpoint which is “fundamentally incompatible with the modern world.”
In his comments, made in a Sunday Times interview and in an article in the same newspaper, Blair rejected arguments that ISIS is merely “tens of thousands of brainwashed crazies,” saying: “[ISIS] does not seek dialogue but dominance. It cannot therefore be contained. It has to be defeated.”
To prevent such attacks, Blair recommended “active on-the-ground military support” for Arab armies, stating that ISIS “have to be crushed.”
He called for the creation of a pan-national anti-terror force, saying: “We must build military capability able to confront and defeat the terrorists wherever they try to hold territory. This is a challenge for the West.”
Last fall, Blair said that the emergence of ISIS could be blamed, at least in part, on Western intervention in the Arab world during the second Iraq war.
In a CNN interviewer in October 2015, when asked whether he thought the invasion of Iraq was a “principle cause” of the rise of ISIS, he said:
“I think there are elements of truth in that… Of course you can’t say that those of us who removed Saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015.
“But… it’s not clear to me that even if our policy did not work, subsequent policies have worked better.”
Still, in his more recent comments, Blair has expressed views which are similar to his earlier, more hawkish approach to the Middle East and its problems. He criticized those who believe that “we have caused all of this through Western policy.”
He warned that “increasingly frequent acts of terrorism” could culminate in an attack “of such size and horror” that it would result in “many more victims” than the recent attack on Brussels or 2015 attacks in Paris.
