Not this.
“I think this type of terrorism has very deep roots,” Blair said. “As well as dealing with the consequences of this — trying to protect ourselves as much as any civil society can — you have to try to pull it up by its roots,” he said.That meant boosting understanding between people of difference religions, helping people in the Middle East see a path to democracy and easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, he said.“Ultimately what we now know, if we didn’t before, is that where there is extremism, fanaticism or acute and appalling forms of poverty in one continent, the consequences no longer stay fixed in that continent, they spread to the rest of the world” said Blair.
For a start the root causes argument is fallacious. Al Qaeda
“seek to rid Muslim countries of what it sees as the profane influence of the West and replace their governments with fundamentalist Islamic regimes”
Al Qaeda will continue along their murderous path, regardless of any resolution of the Middle East conflict. Israel is only one example of what they see as a “Muslim country” with a “profane influence of the West”, that needs to be overtaken by Islamic fundamentalists. And if this did occur, G-d help the rest of Western civilization.
Al Qaeda – coming to a theatre near you.
Blair’s response is foolish also from the point of view that it rewards terror. Before the attack, he was not talking so much of root causes, nor linking the Middle East conflict to world terrorism. But now, with the smoke barely settling, he is making the linkage – exactly what Al Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations – want.
Imagine what would have occurred had the world come out strongly against Yasser Arafat’s terrorism of the 1970s. The hijackings and murders of innocents. Instead of condemnation and military action against him and his merry band of murderers, Arafat got recognition, and an invitation to address the UN. The message? Terrorism works. Bloody well in fact.
The precedent was set over thirty years ago, and the world still has not learned. The way to respond to terror is not to talk of bogus root causes. It is to recognize Islamic terrorism for what it is – an unacceptable device to achieve ones ends – and also to recognize what the true ends are. Unfortunately, Israel seems to be the only country in the world that recognizes this.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that “the terrorists operating in London last week were doing it as part of a comprehensive terrorist war against the Western civilization similar to what they’ve done in America, similar to what they’ve done in Spain.”Israeli officials have long stressed the global nature of terror, apparently wary that a connection between attacks on Western countries and Middle East policy could increase pressure on Israel to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians.Cabinet Minister Matan Vilnai said Western democracies, including Israel, are being targeted by terror. “We are part of it and the whole free world is now part of it,” he said.
Wake up world.
