Politics . Co : Blair defends Iraq war

Blair defends Iraq war

September 24, 2006

Tony Blair has rejected claims that the 2003 invasion of Iraq is responsible for the widespread growth of radical Islamic terror groups.

The New York Times newspaper, making public what it believes is a bona fide National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report, claims that US intelligence has made a direct link between the presence of coalition forces in Iraq and an overall increase in global terrorism.

In particular Islamic radicalism is highlighted by the report as being a particularly potent and growing source of terrorist activity, separate from the al-Qaida organisation operated by the isolated Osama bin Laden in the mountainous Pakistani-Afghan border region.

Mr Blair, whose support of the initial invasion was questioned by mass demonstrations throughout the UK, has dismissed the intelligence report's claims.

He told the BBC that he did not believe "terrorism has increased as a result of Iraq… or Afghanistan".

"9/11, which is the worst terrorist act in the world's history, happened before Iraq or Afghanistan and actually if you go back to this movement, founded on a warped and perverted view of Islam, the roots of it are deep, they go back decades and it is going to take us a long time to root it out," Mr Blair said.

"The idea that we are conducting some war on Islam is utterly absurd; the people who are killing innocent Muslims in Iraq and in Afghanistan are the terrorists, al-Qaida, the Taliban.

"We have got to stand up to it and if we don’t stand up to that is what will increase terrorism in the world as a whole."

With the latest estimates of an extra 50,000 civilian deaths since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Mr Blair said he took "responsibility for what has happened and is happening in Iraq".

But he asked: "Who is killing these people? It is not British soldiers who are going in and killing innocent people in Iraq, it is British soldiers that are there with the support of the democratic government."

A report published by the UN last week showed that torture levels in Iraq have worsened since the 2003 invasion, despite former dictator Saddam Hussein's brutal use of torture as a tactic of repression.