Tony Blair's on terrorism at yesterday's conference speech:
"This is a struggle that will last a generation and more. But this I believe passionately: we will not win until we shake ourselves free of the wretched capitulation to the propaganda of the enemy, that somehow we are the ones responsible.
This terrorism isn't our fault. We didn't cause it. It's not the consequence of foreign policy. It's an attack on our way of life."
Virtually at the same time a US intelligence report has concluded:
"The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement"
Other interesting observations from the report are:
Greater pluralism and more responsive political systems in Muslim-majority nations would alleviate some of the grievances jihadists exploit...
Recent condemnations of violence and extremist religious interpretations by a few notable Muslim clerics signal a trend that could facilitate the growth of a constructive alternative to jihadist ideology: peaceful political activism.
This also could lead to the consistent and dynamic participation of broader Muslim communities in rejecting violence, reducing the ability of radicals to capitalize on passive community support.
In this way, the Muslim mainstream emerges as the most powerful weapon in the war on terror.
Countering the spread of the jihadist movement will require co-ordinated multilateral efforts that go well beyond operations to capture or kill terrorist leaders.
If democratic reform efforts in Muslim-majority nations progress over the next five years, political participation probably would drive a wedge between intransigent extremists and groups willing to use the political process to achieve their local objectives.
Right now it is impossible for political expression to manifest itself in the Arab world, because everytime it does, it gets swatted away by rancid dictators. And not just because they fear for their own position, but also that the US would be angry at such a voice growing in influence.
UPDATE: See some spot-on analysis of Blair's speech at BSSC
Here is the bitterly sarcastic response from one British security source to news that leaked secret reports, from within both the Ministry of Defence and the American intelligence establishment, found that the invasion of Iraq was the number one recruiting sergeant for jihadi extremists: “No shit, really? What are you going to tell me next – that smoking gives you cancer?”
http://www.sundayherald.com/58253
Posted by: Osama | 01 October 2006 at 12:23 PM