Tony Blair: Actions of the West did not cause radical Islam.

[koshergrl]

"The problems in Middle Eastern countries, Blair said, have a common theme: “a disruptive effect of an ideology, based on a extreme and perverted view of the proper faith of Islam.” This radical ideology is still being exported from the Middle East, he said, and it’s spreading across the world."

“We have to liberate ourselves from this thinking that somehow it’s our actions that have caused radical Islam,” Blair said. “You can carry on explaining all this by saying ‘it’s us, we provoked them, it’s really they’re trying to react against Western imperialism,’ [but that's] nonsense.”

Tony Blair: The West Must 'Liberate' Itself From Believing It Caused 'Radical Islam' | National Review Online

 

[BlindBoo]

As the United States finds itself in the aftermath of another crisis in the Middle East, it is worth the risk of opprobrium to ask why there should be hostility toward America in that region. Some insight can be gained by surveying official U.S. conduct in the Middle East since the end of World War II. Acknowledged herein is a fundamental, yet deplorably overlooked, distinction between understanding and excusing. The purpose of this survey is not to pardon acts of violence against innocent people but to understand the reasons that drive people to violent political acts.[2] The stubborn and often self-serving notion that the historical record is irrelevant because political violence is inexcusable ensures that Americans will be caught in crises in the Middle East and elsewhere for many years to come.

"Ancient History": U.S. Conduct in the Middle East Since World War II and the Folly of Intervention | Cato Institute

 

[koshergrl]

Tony Blair disagrees.