Now that Tony Blair is no longer a prime minister, he is telling it like it is when it comes to Islamists, pointing out that not only their methods but also their ideas are outrageous:
Tony Blair has launched a powerful attack on 'absurd' British Islamists who have nurtured a false 'sense of grievance' that they are being oppressed by Britain and the United States.
In his most outspoken remarks on Islamists, the former Prime Minister warns that Britain is in danger of losing the battle against terrorists unless mainstream society confronts the threat. . . . .
'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'
Blair held out the example of the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan - criticised by Islamists as an example of the heavy-handed imperial West oppressing Muslims - to highlight unfounded claims of grievance. He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.
Blair is right. Most of the supposed grievances of Islamic terrorists are exaggerated, fabricated, or illogical. None of them justify terror attacks on innocent, noncombatant civilians.
But Western media, unable to justify the terror attacks themselves, too often uncritically report at face value the purported grievances of Islamists.
It's tempting to believe that the ever-shifting grievances of the jihadists are the reason for their violence. But they are not. They are just the latest excuses, and those excuses are taken away, new excuses will follow. For proof, simply consider the fact that terrorism is a scourge not just in one country, but in country after country around the globe. The excuses vary from place to place, but he deadly outcome is always the same.
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