Blair: Middle East strategy is not working

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1835385,00.html

Tony Blair called for a fundamental reappraisal of British and US foreign policy yesterday, admitting that excessive emphasis on military power and failure to address the Palestinian issue had left the west losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East.

In a speech to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles, the prime minister admitted "we are far from persuading those we need to persuade" that western values were even-handed, fair and just in their application. He said there was no point disguising the damage being done to the cause of peace in the Middle East by the war on the Lebanese border, but suggested that when the war finally ended "we must commit ourselves to a complete renaissance of our strategy to defeat those that threaten us".

Mr Blair said it was necessary "to change dramatically the focus of our policy", admitting: "In the short term we are not winning."

He added that even in the west "a vast part of opinion is not remotely near understanding" that the battles in Iraq and Lebanon are "part of a wider struggle for the soul of the Middle East".

The only way to defeat the "arc of extremism stretching across the Middle East", he said, was to build an "alliance of moderation" that "paints a different future" in which people of all faiths can live together. He added: "We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force and unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world.

[YDogg]

1. One of blair's misconceptions is that the US HAS a foreign policy.

[electropop]

23. Not true. We have a policy and it's working perfectly.

The price of gas is $3.00/gallon. Mission accomplished.

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Blair has another misconception

He has this misconception that the Frat Boy could possibly admit to himself or any one else that any thing he has ever done could possibly go wrong.

[babylonsister]

2. Too little, too late, Tony. Your fate and legacy are sealed. nt

[saigon68]

28. He is like a dog covering up his nasty Urine Smell

The Chimp's ( The Singing Cowboy's) poodle

[zonkra]

50. I wonder

if he cleared such barking with Rupert, his new owner?

[saigon68]

51. LOL what ass clowns

[bemildred]

3. I'm trying to count how many times he contradicts himself here. nt

[Journeyman]

4. Short Bus President, Dim Bulb PM. . .

no comment possible in the face of such astute recognition of the painfully obvious. . .

[orwell]

5. Hey Tony...

...the clue phone is ringing...can you get it?

[Amonester]

6. Bring the boys and girls back home!

Bring the boys and girls back home first and then: Resign.

Because: We (millions of us, the people in the streets) told you so, but you chose to ignore the civilized world you're paid (very well) to serve (not just BigOil's & Co lobbyists).

Let people with earned credibility try to fix your despicable mess.

Gee... How many years did it take you to wake up??
The Hague Awaits. Be a good dog: Turn yourself in.

Yeah: Go tell the judges there how much you regret your war crimes (conspiracy) and see what happens next.

[Kikosexy2]

17. To the ...

dog pound for this Poodle...

[chill_wind]

7. He is right about this much: It ISN"T working.

Don't know where he is going with any of this, but the hideous mess he and Bush have left in their political wakes so far over these years speaks plenty for itself.

[shain from kane]

8. Birth pangs. Take two aspirin and call Bush in the morning. n/t

[Vidar]

9. Sorry That skirt isn't long enough to cover his ass.

[High Plains]

10. Blair is belatedly correct. We do need a fundamental reevaluation

of our Middle East policies and we need to junk this whole "war on terror" paradigm, which is another thing we can thank our Israeli friends for. They pioneered it. It worked so well for them, didn't it? Just like it's working for us.

[Bretttido]

21. Absolutely. One needs only look at Israel to see that our "War on Terra"

will only become harsher as new generations grow up to hate America.

[partylessinOhio]

11. No kidding! If you had not been a docile poodle, perhaps you could

have made a difference in the outcome in the Middle East. You could have been a leader instead of a follower of a fool.

[kenny blankenship]

12. JUST STEP DOWN YOU MURDERING ASSHOLE!

Nobody should be interested in your mincing "reassessments". When we want to hear you out further, we'll summon you to The Hague.

[hadrons]

13. does Dumbya slap Blair on the nose ???

he doesn't say this stuff in front of his master

[acmavm]

14. If it weren't a matter of life and death this would be almost funny.

The screaming idiot says the excessive emphasis on military power and failure to address the Palestinian issue had left the west losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East. Well no shit Sherlock.

There's this crazy thing about some people. You kill their kids and parents and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and you tend to get their attention all right. But not in a good way. It does not tend to make the survivors fond of those responsible.

How did this lunkhead ever get to where he is today? bush** had Poppy. How the hell did this jackass do it?

[Ghost Dog]

16. How did this lunkhead ever get to where he is today? POWER LUST.

No shit, indeed, Sherlock.

[Amonester]

18. Yep. And even torture to death many of 'em who 99.9% of the time

never did anything wrong to anyone in their entire lives! And for what?? These poor dudes who've got the "bad luck" of being at the wrong place (their home...), at the wrong time will say anything their barbarian torturers want them to say just in despair to find a way to stop the horrible pain... Including lies... (Duh!)

Next thing you know in this day 'n age of instant communication, the whole world "witnessed" the atrocities committed by the (supposedly) "civilized" world their corpo-imposteur "leaders" are "paid" to respect their laws and real values.

And these greedy, idiot criminals-in-chiefs have the "gal" to say their "goal" is "to win the hearts an minds" of their innocent victims' families and fellow citizens!!

Mental institutions wanted!! Quick!

Plus: they constantly say that WE are wrong??
(were, now it seems...) :mad:

[Prophet 451]

57. Luck

I'm not entirely kidding either. Blair had the extraordinary good fortune to assume leadership of the Labour party just as teh Tories started to self-destruct. With the Major administration going down in flames and seemingly likely to split (they didn't but it seemed likely at the time) and the Liberals (which I'm a member of) directionless, Labour assumed power mainly because there was no-one else.

Sad fact of the matter is that there still isn't anyone else. The Tories took a brief sojurn to the extreme-right, returned to teh center-right, making them virtually identical to Labour (which Blair has steered to the center-right) and has had ten years of revolving leaders, none of whom were much good. Menzies Campbell, the new Liberal leader, hasn't made himself very visible and isn't much thought of by the public.

[MrPrax]

15. What Scum...

since Blair is one of the major architects...it would have been better if he actually repudiated it.

Clever Orwellian shit...""to change dramatically the focus of our policy"

He is actually calling for even MORE violence and war, sprinkled with terms, 'renaissance', 'soul', 'arc of extremism' (axis of evil?), 'values'...more of the same nuisanced Crusader shit where both Iran and Syria are now part of a wider conflict.

"unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world." <--of course this is the opposite of what Blair/Bush is doing...categorically ruling out any other legitimate regional interests other than Israel's. Part of those western values are international law, which Blair has continually undermined and ignored...so what other values?

""in part a struggle between what I call reactionary Islam and moderate mainstream Islam, but its implications go far wider. We are fighting a war - but not just against terrorism, but about how the world should govern itself in the early 21st century, about global values."

So Blair makes the same mistake he accuses "a vast part of opinion" in the West that "is not remotely near understanding"...and that is the Middle East must be viewed as Blair apparantly does, through the prism of religious strife and geopolitical considerations, national aspirations, economic hegemony, resource control, self-determination, sovreignty, land grabs, illegal occupation, are secondary to blind religious intolerance (on their side -- not ours)

[MsMagnificent]

48. Bingo!

In a speech before leaving he warned of an "arc of extremism" and said the West had not been "bold enough.. in fighting for the values we believe in".

It doesn't sound like he's moderating his stance at all -- he's upping it

"...said the West had not been "bold enough..."

?!

[CJCRANE]

52. Good analysis -

it's the same old "clash of civilizations" BS.

This whole

war on terror/tyranny/islamic fundamentalism etc
war for freedom/religious freedom/democracy/women's rights etc

is just a smokescreen for globalisation by force...

because if you notice, Bush and Blair have never said even one word against Saudi Arabia, which would fit all the categories they're supposedly fighting against. Instead they supply them with billions of dollars of weaponry.

on edit: added "by force"

[VegasWolf]

19. Yo Poodle, ya think???? nt

[whosinpower]

20. when the war is finally ended

There is the crux of it all.....and Britain and the US is doing nothing to hasten that end. Therein lies the problem.

[Gully Foyle]

22. Except

Working just fine Tony. Iraq and the heatwave aren't in the news.
Bush is getting a walk, and if there is an "incident" causing the war to spread to Iran and Syria Bush gets a free pass during this election year.

[tavalon]

24. Well, there's a DUH moment for the poodle

Too bad you sold your soul to the devil, eh, PM Blair? Hell of a price to pay, hell of a price to pay.

[stubtoe]

34. He's got his seat at the Carlyle Group. What should he care?

[leesa]

25. Well, blowing up citizens and stealing their stuff rarely DOES work, Dufus

[Scriptor Ignotus]

26. Bwahahahhaahha

sorry, i was just picturing Bush "commiting to a complete renaissance of his strategy".

[BooScout]

29. An alliance of moderation???

Persuade them we are even-handed, fair and just???

Tony, you are indeed a fecking twat. How in the hell can you speak such words after the war crimes and crimes against humanity that you have assisted in. If the whole world wasn't already crying at all the death and destruction you and Bush have caused they would be laughing their asses off at such words coming from you of all people. Prat.

[Hoping4Change]

35. Well said.

I am so so sickened by his stance. So sickened by it all.

[mom cat]

30. Looks like he finally saw his polls.

[LuckyLib]

31. Tony, Tony, Tony. When did this dawn on you? We, the Brits, and

Israel are tied into a dance from which we will never recover. Thank you for "making the world safe for democracy." Our children and grandchildren thank you.

[mogster]

32. Which strategy? n/t

[ananda]

33. Yes

Healing is finally starting to take place... and about time.

It looks as though Bush's shadow is diminishing a bit.

Sue

[ikri]

36. Quick! Up that man's dosage!

It's almost like Blair snaps out of some weird drug induced trance at times. Just sometimes he actually comes out and says stuff that you'd expect from a Labour Party leader.

Don't worry though, a cup of uncle Dick's special tea and he'll be back calling for more destruction in no time at all.

[Ghost Dog]

37. BBC: Blair returns to face UK critics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5237452.stm

In a speech before leaving he warned of an "arc of extremism" and said the West had not been "bold enough.. in fighting for the values we believe in". But his words were branded "foolish" and "naive" by ex-Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind. And deputy UN Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown urged Mr Blair to take a back seat in Mid-East peace talks.

Mr Blair, speaking in Los Angeles, said Syria and Iran were miscalculating if they continued to support terrorism and said they would "be confronted".

During his trip Mr Blair has continued to avoid calling for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon - instead sticking to the form of words that he wants an end to hostilities and a proper plan for longlasting peace.

The BBC has learned that Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had urged Mr Blair to press the US to call for an immediate end to hostilities - a call Downing Street rejected.

Reaction to Mr Blair's speech in the UK has been mixed.

/more...

"Mixed", huh. Playing safe, eh, BBC?

[struggle4progress]

49. Angry Labour MPs deride Blair's Middle East 'rethink'

JAMES KIRKUP
POLITICAL EDITOR
TONY Blair's claim to be "rethinking" British foreign policy was yesterday rubbished by angry Labour MPs who said nothing had changed in the Prime Minister's approach to the Middle East.

As Mr Blair returned to Britain from his United States tour, his Scottish MPs were organising an attempt to recall parliament from its summer break to give members a chance to express their fury at his continued refusal to call for an immediate end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Ann Clwyd, the chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party and a Blair ally, said the "vast majority" of Labour MPs disagreed with the Prime Minister.

She said many rank-and-file MPs were "very angry", adding: "The vast majority of them felt there should be a ceasefire and the vast majority of them are very critical of Israeli policy" ...

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1122872006

[katty]

38. gee, no s***!

[High Plains]

39. The responses in this thread are really disappointing.

One of our closest allies is denouncing our whole approach to the "war on terror," and he sounds just about spot on.

Instead of engaging with what he said, we get a bunch of juvenile "Blair is a __________" posts. We can do better than that, no?

[w4rma]

41. He hasn't earned any trust yet with mere words from a single speech. (nt)

[Amonester]

42. As I said, if he'd really (and I mean: really) want to start showing...

an example of our values, and in all fairness, he should:

1. Bring the troops home.
2. Resign.
3. Turn himself in to the ICC at The Hague, to be fairly and justly judged for his war crimes with a proper attitude of regret and humility.

Only after beginning to do Justice in regard to International Law can we hope to show the victims of the criminals the fact that we are serious in our desire to correct the crimes that were committed in our name by these nitwits.

We cannot hold any so-called moral high-ground as long as true justice and its laws keep on being ignored 24/7.


Yeah. Count on these warmongers to become honest (all of a sudden). /sarcasm

[IndianaGreen]

47. Bush and Blair are playing good cop-bad cop

but what they are really doing is stalling in hopes that Israel would achieve victory in Lebanon. Looks like Israel is losing just as we are in Iraq!

[Jacobin]

61. Since he was one of the engineers of the multiple fiascos

This speech falls a bit on deaf ears.

Had he simply repudiated the policies he has pursued, that would be cause for hope. His disingenuous parsing of his criciticisms of 'others' doesn't cut it and for me, at least, merits ridicule and derision.

[w4rma]

40. Is he just now trying to save his butt from being canned soon? (nt)

[Iniquitous Bunny]

43. We need to be neutral arbitrators in the mid-east.

I highly agree with this quote you mentioned:

The only way to defeat the "arc of extremism stretching across the Middle East", he said, was to build an "alliance of moderation" that "paints a different future" in which people of all faiths can live together. He added: "We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force and unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world.

It's not working as it is and continuing this path is essentially suicide for the planet. Finger pointing, blame, extremism, and bloodshed has to stop. There needs to be common ground and compromise for peace.

[anakie]

44. Breaking : the sun will rise tomorrow

n/t

[MsMagnificent]

45. What?

Mr Blair also argued that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were not to secure "regime change, but values change". "We could have chosen security as the battleground. But we didn't. We chose values. We said we didn't want another Taliban or a different Saddam. Rightly, in my view, we realised that you can't defeat a fanatical ideology just by imprisoning or killing its leaders; you have to defeat its ideas."

What 'ideas' have been 'defeated'?
Seems to me all we did was to imprison & kill... what else have we accomplished? At all?
Once I understand what these are comes the question of HOW, exactly, were these things defeated?

Note: He's speaking completely in the past tense.

[CJCRANE]

58. Message to Blair: "Your values are not my values".

Signed, The British People.

(Blair's popularity hits all time low: http://tinyurl.com/mezf8 )

[IndianaGreen]

46. No asshole, you are the one that is not working

It is you fault for bending over to Bush and ignoring the cries for help from the Lebanese people. Let's see if anyone feels sorry for you when blowback hits you in the ass!

[CJCRANE]

53. Globalisation by force of arms

is what Blair is pushing.

The rest is window dressing.

[Eurobabe]

54. Strategery? You mean we have a strategery??

Couple of dumb fucks joined at the groin: W & his poodle.

[Vidar]

55. Maybe Tony & Joe can campaign together on this platform.

[rpannier]

56. It's now apparant that bLiar thinks we're all stupid

When he's with scrubbie, bLiar spews scrubby talking points. When he's not with napleon part deux he says something different.
The foreign policy in the Mideast is partly of his making. It's a failed policy and anyone with an IQ above 35 could tell you that -- hell...I'm sure my cat knew it way back then.
bLiar is finished. He's been relgated to the backseat of the bus in the heroes of history.

[ShortnFiery]

59. And our Dear Leader is going on VA-CA-TION for the next NINE days!

Un-F**king Believable! :puke:

[paparush]

60. Timmy Blair needs to just Stop This Shit...

Bush: {{mouth full of pork rinds}} Hey, Timmy **chew**chew** what gives with the fucking energy negativa, mi paisono?

Blair: George, the strategy, such as it is, simply isn't working. Dozens of Iraqis are being killed and maimed every day. There are no clear signs of progress. We are losing.

Bush: {{slurping tea}} Now hold on just a dang minute. The United States of Commerce DO NOT LOSE! Do you roger that? I mean, just look at Exxon. Record profits. RECORD PROFITS!

Blair: George this isn't about quarterly earnings.

Bush: Yer right about that..he he..its about looking long term. A long, sweet slope of 15% ROI stretching out into the forseeable future. I'm bullish on this war biz, Tim, you should be too, what with all them Halliburton shares we slipped your way...har har har.

[oc2002]

62. but will they pull the troops out if Iraq.....no..

I see this more of covering his ass in the face of an absolute failure in Iraq, and trying to distance himself from that failure to cover his ass.