UK: Tony Blair denies military action 'radicalised' Muslims

Tony Blair has denied that military intervention in the Middle East has radicalised Muslims and encouraged them to engage in acts of terrorism.

The former prime minister said the fight against Islamic terrorism would only end "when we defeat the ideology".

And Mr Blair said the death of Osama bin Laden was "immensely important".
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Blair also revealed he once almost had to order a passenger jet to be shot down over UK airspace in the wake of 9/11.

In an interview with Radio 4's Today programme, marking 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, the former prime minister said: "The reason why these people are radicalised is not because of something we're doing to them. They believe in their philosophy.

"I see this out in the Middle East all the time. There is this view, which I'm afraid I believe is deeply naive in the West, that somehow these people, you know, misunderstand our motives, that we've confused them, that that's why they've become radicalised.

"Understand one thing - they believe in what they believe in because they believe their religion compels them to believe in it."

Mr Blair added that he did not believe the provision of democracy in Middle Eastern countries "by the way a process, as I say, not imposed as an act of imperialism should radicalise anybody.

"And until we stop accepting that somehow we, by our actions, are provoking these people to be as they are, we will carry on with this problem."

He went on to say that people in Iraq and Afghanistan wanted democracy and that this ideology was not being imposed on them.

"The Taliban party or the Saddam party could have come and won the elections. The fact is the people in those countries were glad to see the back of them. Now what they want is to see the back of the terrorism."


The Ahmadiyya Post, Uk. Sept 30, 2011