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Britain
Blair: Leaders must face terrorism's root causes
2005-07-10
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday it is crucial to address terrorism's underlying causes, which he identified as deprivation, lack of democracy and ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Thursday's bomb attacks on London demonstrate the pressing need for world leaders to tackle problems like poverty, he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. He said leaders had taken on some of those issues at the G-8 summit of the world's wealthy nations in Scotland this week.
I'd call the deprivation and the ongoing conflict in the Muddle East the result of the lack of "democracy" — which, as I keep repeating, is in reality shorthand for freedom to tell your local holy man to go to hell, rather than the mere freedom to vote the way your local Gauleiter tells you to...
Posted by:Fred

#32  Thanks for the tip, 3dc.
Posted by: 11A5S   2005-07-10 23:45  

#31  But Frank has some wonderful recipe suggestions. I do like to see a man enjoy his food! ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-07-10 22:46  

#30  I agree w/OS. The US is a constitutional or some say a federalist republic. Definitely not a true democracy, thank God.
Posted by: Jarhead   2005-07-10 22:44  

#29  11A5S,
Ask a russian communist what they were taught about Marx refusing to be president of the Paris Commune.
Posted by: 3dc   2005-07-10 20:06  

#28  nuoc mam
Posted by: Charlie   2005-07-10 19:36  

#27  some fava beans and a fine chianti...
Posted by: Frank G   2005-07-10 19:23  

#26  Uhhh... oops?
Posted by: Dave D.   2005-07-10 18:56  

#25  That's .com, Dave. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-07-10 18:37  

#24  :-) with a little ginger and pepper
Posted by: Frank G   2005-07-10 18:23  

#23  Sooner or later, we're going to have to face the unpleasant truth that the real root cause of Islamic terrorism is... Islam. Not some radical offshoot of Islam like Wahhabism, or whatever lunatic variant the Iranian Mad Mullahs follow-- but Islam itself. All of it.

Bruce Thornton, over at Victor Davis Hanson's website, has a sobering essay on this, Jihad Is Knocking. It's worth reading.

I've supported Bush's and Blair's "Islamic Democracy Initiative" from the beginning. And I still do, because I think someday we're going to need to be able to say, "We tried. We really, REALLY tried to show these people the way."

But I no longer have much hope that it's the answer. Islam is not going to change-- at the very least, to the point where "submission to the will of God" no longer means "submission to the will of man"-- until it's staring down the barrel of a BIG gun and facing its own imminent extinction.

As Frank would say: let's start fryin' 'em up.
Posted by: Dave D.   2005-07-10 16:04  

#22  Seems to me the root cause is religion. Specifically, there's a bunch of people convinced the whole world should worship their moon god, and another bunch of people who don't want to do it. The first group believes in using deadly force to get their way. And some of the second group believe in using deadly force to refuse to go along.
Posted by: Glenmore   2005-07-10 15:58  

#21  To hell with Democracy.

Give them a REPUBLIC, a nation of individuals holding all the rights and only ceding the minimum to government. Keep the government at bay and you dont have fundamentalists or fascists or socialists or any "-ists" with any ability to force others into doing something they reuse to do.

We've lost sight of that. The US is NOT a democracy (although with Kelo, et al, is creeping that way), it is a Consitutional Republic of Laws. We just happen to use democracy to structure our republic. And thats starting to fray as people lose sight of the reasons for a republic in their worship of "democracy", subsuming liberty and freedom to the goddess democracy and the largess of a confiscatory government.

Posted by: OldSpook   2005-07-10 15:27  

#20  It's kind of ironic that the same folks that always accuse us Yanks (not to offend any Southerners, but that what them furriners call us all) of being such rabid materialists... always assume that handing out big chunks of money will solve all the world's problems. I wonder if hard core Euro socialists sit awake at night thinking, "Marx was a materialist, but the Americans are even bigger materialists, but they reject Marx, but Marx said that materialism would displace spiritualism (the opiate of the people!), however the americans are sumpremely spiritual... Damn! I need some more absinthe."
Posted by: 11A5S   2005-07-10 14:54  

#19  "...terrorism's underlying causes...deprivation, lack of democracy and ongoing conflict in the Middle East...."

This is a dangerous delusion to promote to the international community. It will allow terrorism to grow by diverting our energy towards a false enemy.

When will the actual demographics about the status, wealth and education of terrorists be covered in the media? This strawman needs to be burned down.

But, just for the sake of argument, exactly what forms would his suggestion to "address" the root causes take? More talk? (That was a such a winning plan with forcing Saddam to abide by UN resolutions and it seems to really be making progress with Iran.) An apology from the West for our sins, (met, of course, with silence from Islam, which is perenially unable to speak about any sin in its own history)? Negotiations (translation: "give terrorist groups what they want and they'll change their tune about blowing us up"--surely he's not suggesting that?) Coddling--in the form of legal double standards and lurching policies to the detriment of the West and the favor of Islam?

Were we so lucky as to suddenly manifest Utopia through Blair's approach, how exactly would leaders remove evil from the hearts of every person in the Caliphate of Terrorism who deprives their neighbors not only of what they have, but of their lives? How would we motivate potential martyrs who seem to never have considered in their grand Allahu Akbar hysteria that God might want them to live and work for the preservation of life? Is PM Blair really suggesting that by fixing poverty, the terrorist acts of twisted and wealthy jihadis will vanish into thin air?

I am not British, but I think if I were and my country had just gone through the London attacks, the gory reality of the London aftermath would push me a bit more towards practicality. Sadly, Tony still is carrying the EU banner--"an inflex of money will remove evil from the hearts of men; the problem is a physical deficiency, not a spiritual one. "
Posted by: jules 2   2005-07-10 14:09  

#18  FULL FORWARD WITH DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN!
Posted by: bgrebel9   2005-07-10 13:58  

#17  Speakin' of root causes, Tony's touchy feely is the root cause of 7-7. Hey, Tony, root cause this!
Posted by: Captain America   2005-07-10 12:59  

#16  All lunches should be free; they were in pre-school, weren't they?

Thus, people who believe Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten is a political tome.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-07-10 12:32  

#15  Coming from you .com, that is a signal honour!

And thank you very much Frank G, *shudder* indeed!
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2005-07-10 11:23  

#14  Blair - You have guilt in the deaths too by not publicly stating that the problem is ISLAM.

Pontius Pilot washed his hands... but later sucided in Germany under a deep depression. The world has such fond memories of him.

Use him as a negative example and find the strength to speak the truth.
Posted by: 3dc   2005-07-10 11:18  

#13  the Cosmic Playground Monitor. lol! That's a keeper. Actually - I think you are right. Self-reliance v/s Nanny State. Unable to handle it themselves, they used to run tell the playground monitor.
Posted by: 2b   2005-07-10 10:04  

#12  he's gotta say this crap or Cherie won't put out


*shudder*
Posted by: Frank G   2005-07-10 09:58  

#11  I don't think it's fear. It's laziness and narcissistic self-absorption.

All lunches should be free; they were in pre-school, weren't they? There should be a playground monitor on hand at all times to make sure I get my turn and to make sure the other children always play fair and to make sure there are no bullies and that everybody is nice to everybody else and that no one calls me names and to wipe my little nose when I get the sniffles and...

And that's your typical Leftist's view of government: the Cosmic Playground Monitor.
Posted by: Dave D.   2005-07-10 09:35  

#10  so true, Dave D. I think the biggest fear of the granny left here is growing up. Baby Gloomers are terrified that if they stop raging against the machine, then they are admitting they are old. It's kind of like wearing sensible shoes with a dancing gown - it means you're old or handicapped and beyond caring.
Posted by: 2b   2005-07-10 09:01  

#9  Bravo, Tony! Bravo, Dave!
Posted by: Neutron Tom   2005-07-10 08:55  

#8  Bravo!
Posted by: Neutron Tom   2005-07-10 08:54  

#7  "Has there ever been a politician that has treated the people as adults?"

Reagan did a fairly good job of that. But other than him, no; not in the fifty-odd years I've been around.

Part of the problem is that an increasing number of adults don't want to be treated as adults. Over here, we've now got two full generations of Americans who were raised on Sesame Street and we're awash in Leftists who are simply overgrown children, angry that the real world didn't turn out to be the way Big Bird promised them it would be.
Posted by: Dave D.   2005-07-10 08:53  

#6  *whistle*

*standing ovation*

Rock on, Tony!
Posted by: .com   2005-07-10 08:16  

#5  Spot on .com - he's an infuriating person, he knows that aid money just ends up being pissed away, and yet he can't do the truly honourable thing and say that because the moonbats in his party will have a hissy fit.

He does the right thing; stands by America, is deeply involved in Iraq and recently (and to the intense chagrine of the French) has said outright that the CAP (and by implication, all subsidies) leads to distortions and inefficiences. In the case of the CAP, it kills lots of Africans too. But, he comes up with total shite as well; engendering a culture of 'respect', fiddling in the the rights and freedoms of the people, bending over backwards to keep the EuroWeenies happy and destroying institutions that have been around for centuries. In the case of the latter, this is one of the reasons we haven't explicitly needed a written constitution - it was all there, but distributed. Blair is dismantling the bits, and making it a lot easier for this country to become a police state.

He's just mouthing the standard litany of the left, the envy-brigade; take money from those who have it (never mind that they've earnt it - and it's their wealth-creating skills that make civilisation work), give that money to those who you feel need it (preferably Africans and thereby expunge your own feelings of guilt at being an evil ex-colonialist), it's all our fault and if only we could throw enough money at the problem, everything would be alright.

Has there ever been a politician that has treated the people as adults? I mean told people the hard truths; small children do die and in shitty countries they die younger, there are people out there who will kill you simply because of who you are, the world does not owe you a living, nature is red in tooth and claw, will kill you soon as look at you and there is no appeals process.

I am so friggin' tempted to make a special order of 1000 of those 'make poverty history' wristbands that are being bought up and add a few words to them '- become a capitalist'. Damn the stupidity of these people! We've got the mightiest engine the world has ever seen for eliminating poverty and these moonbats think it's the problem!

I remember a quote from a long time ago (70s I think), which I initially attributed to Vidal Sassoon (the hairdresser! - can that be right?) which sums it up for me "Capitalism works, it just doesn't work for enough people".
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2005-07-10 06:09  

#4  The principal cause being aiding and abetting of terrorism, by said leaders, as long as it doesn't affect their chances of being reelected.
Posted by: gromgoru   2005-07-10 05:37  

#3  It must be a schizophrenic thingy to be Tony. He knows, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the touchy-feely stock "causes" (e.g. poverty and, lol, "deprivation") are lies, so he tosses in "lack of democracy", like there's a Minimum Recommended Daily Amount, lol. Poor socialist, trapped between the Moonbats, Tranzis, "ists", and common sense. That extra $50Bn for Africa, which the US declined to contribute to (Thank You Dubya), for example, is money down the rat hole and Tony knows it. As for the "ongoing conflict" he's just making bones with his fools with the Paleo dementia - and that wart on the end of the tail has wagged the dog for far too long, already. I figure he's not really a total idiot, he's just stuck, like a fly in the web of BS his party peddles. Sucks to be him.
Posted by: .com   2005-07-10 04:08  

#2  So, we are playing the 'root causes' game. How about the largest acumulation of unearned wealth (in the ME) in the history of the world. Solution, take it away from them. Or, far too many unemployed young men (both in the ME and European cities) with nothing better to do than hatch plots. Solution, cut off their welfare benefits.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-07-10 00:51  

#1  Poverty, tyranny, and repeated attempts to kill all the Joooos aren't root causes they're symptoms.
Posted by: AzCat   2005-07-10 00:29  

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