Tony Blair Gives Speech On Islam, Extremism & Sensibility

Tony Blair has delivered a speech outlining his ideology on Islam, specifically radical Islam which is prevalent today, and warns of the potential of terrorist attacks ‘worse than those in Paris.’

He also warned Muslims with retaliation not just from Daesh, but from non-Muslims turning on them in the future, should another 7/7 or Paris type attack occur in Britain.

The former labour prime minister responsible for starting the war in Iraq also welcomed Parliament’s decision to extend the war from Iraq into Syria. Blair calls for an even wider engagement in the Middle East. He insisted that defeating the terror group on the ground is only the first step in tackling extremism and claimed that the ideology itself must be eradicated.

ITV reports:

Former PM Tony Blair delivers a speech in Washington on Islamist extremism saying defeating so-called Islamic State, also known as Daesh, was ‘only a necessary beginning’.

To defeat Islamist extremism, we need a strategy which is comprehensive.

Defeating DAESH is only a necessary beginning.

Force alone will not prevail. The challenge goes far wider and deeper than the atrocities of the Jihadist fanatics.

The Islamist ideology has also to be confronted.

Today it can be, in alliance with the modernising and sensible voices within Islam determined to take the name and reputation of the faith of Islam back from the extremists.
– TONY BLAIR

Mr Blair welcomed the “important” decision by MPs to authorise British action against Islamic State (IS) in Syria, claiming European forces had to lead the response to the “threat at our door” and “within our home”.

He said said defeating IS in Iraq, Syria and Libya was part of a wider strategy which also included tackling Islamist ideology. He warned that a continued failure to recognise the scale of the challenge would lead to terrorist attacks “worse that those in Paris”.

Delivering the Kissinger Lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington, Mr Blair said “force alone will not prevail” and “the Islamist ideology has also to be confronted”.
A continued failure to recognise the scale of the challenge and to construct the means necessary to meet it, will result in terrorist attacks potentially worse than those in Paris, producing a backlash which then stigmatises the majority of decent, law abiding Muslims and puts the very alliance so necessary at risk, creating a further cycle of chaos and violence.
– TONY BLAIR

Mr Blair outlined a five-point plan, including defeating IS and destroying its so-called caliphate; forging a coalition of nations willing to take on jihadist extremists wherever groups attempted to gain a foothold; confronting the ideology; supporting academics and theologians who were tackling extremism; and seeking a wider engagement in Middle East.