Blair, Philippines – the ‘battle about Islam’ uppermost for peace

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23rd March, 2009

“There is essentially one battle going on, and it is a battle about Islam.” Referring to the moderates doing battle with extremists, Tony Blair said: “We gotta make sure those guys win.”

BLAIR ON ISLAM

In the Philippines today, in answer to an audience question, perhaps for the first time Tony Blair has told it like it really is on the question of peace in the Middle East and Islam.

Tony Blair speaks at the 4th Ateneo of Manila University MVP Center on Leadership. Credit to http://manila-photos.blogspot.com/ for the great picture. (Apologies for the earlier oversight.)

His line has long been  – “sort out the Palestine/Israel problem and you sort out the problems with fundamentalist Islam.”

Some of us have always seen it as the other way around.

Now, today, he seems to be conceding this.

Article from here:

MANILA, Philippines – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Manila for a series of leadership conferences, used an open forum at the Ateneo de Manila University to make what he called “a larger point” about the turmoil in the Middle East.

“There is essentially one battle going on, and it is a battle about Islam.”

Blair, on retiring as prime minister in 2007, immediately accepted an appointment as special envoy of the so-called Quartet in the Middle East: the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Russia.

He told a sympathetic audience that the “larger point” was the right framework with which to understand the pivotal, conflict-ridden region.

Blair said there were two elements in Islam: one wanted to work with the West; the other did not.

The right approach to peace and development in the Middle East, then, would be to “partner with the modernizing and moderate element,” he said.

He made his remarks in answer to a question about how he made major decisions, such as joining the US-led Coalition of the Willing in invading Iraq.

He answered the Iraq question first, and then broadened his view to include the titanic struggle for the future of Islam.

Referring to the moderates doing battle with extremists, he said: “We gotta make sure those guys win.”

UPDATE TO THIS, 31st March

The writer of the article above has noticed that he had a bit of a scoop on his hands, even if he hadn’t quite realised it at the start. Referring to his own article at Global Nation Inquirer he notes via his blog here that SOME of us too have noticed Blair’s words from this Philippines interview.

Those of us who have studied Mr Blair know that he says nothing without thinking, whether we agree with his thoughts or not.  A “Bushism” and Blairism are not in any way comparable.

That was the reason this phrase struck me so forcibly.

No longer the “corrupting of the true faith of Islam” description of the issues surrounding Islamic terrorism, it still surprises me somewhat that none of the British national heavies have yet run with this story. Perhaps it will have to be repeated a few times for them to notice. Once the press repeats things a few times regurgitation is the name of the game.

I have not seen a full unedited transcript of the speech and Q&A session. I ALWAYS prefer to read the unadultereated version in case of content misrepresentaion. But there is more of the interview at these sites:

Here and here and here and here and here.  This site has several photographs of the event, but draws no attention to Tony Blair’s remark that raised so much interest among the between-the-line readers.

Perhaps some of us are clutching at straws here in our quest for leadership on this issue. On the other hand Mr Blair was and still is ever the realist, when push comes to shove.

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Tags: battle about Islam, philippines, Tony Blair