Blair: War on terror 'not over'

Former British prime minister Tony Blair today insisted “significant blows” had been struck in the war on terror but admitted, “it’s not over”.

Speaking from his London home on the eve of 9/11 he defended the actions he took in the wake of the atrocity and said it was “deeply naive” to believe the response of the West had radicalised extremist Muslim factions.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is not because of something we are doing to them.

“They believe in what they believe in because they believe their religion compels them to believe in it.”

Mr Blair warned the threat would only end when “we defeat the ideology”.

“I think it will take a generation, but the way to defeat this ideology ultimately is by a better idea, and we have it, which is a way of life based on openness, democracy, freedom and the rule of law.”

"Mr Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy, insisted he had ``constantly'' reassessed the course of action he pursued during his time at No 10.

“If you never have any doubts about something of this magnitude you are a bit of an odd person, of course you do,” he said.

“I think you have got to assess and reassess. I have never regarded the view that this was, indeed, an isolated pocket of terrorists as a foolish or stupid view.

“It is perfectly possible to argue you could have handled the aftermath of 9/11 differently. You could have said we should not invade Afghanistan, instead what we should do is try to corral these people by various security methods.

“So, of course I constantly reassess it, but my view, even more strongly actually since leaving office

– I now spend a lot of my time in the Middle East, I have just come back from my 70th visit since leaving office – I’m afraid my view is that actually this is a spectrum of which the terrorists are at one end but actually that spectrum of radical Islamism goes far, far deeper than we think.

“It is profound, it is an ideology, it is a movement and it is still there, still with us.

“I don’t think you can treat these people as if they are just a weird and warped group that have no connection with the wider world.”

Mr Blair indicated he would be supportive of military action against Iran if it continues to attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

He said: “If necessary we have to got to be prepared to use force to stop their military nuclear programme.

“I don’t think it would include invasion but I think you cannot rule out the use of military force against Iran if they continue to develop nuclear weapons in breach of the international community’s obligations on them.”

Mr Blair dismissed claims the use of the phrase war on terror had inflamed the post 9/11 situation, insisting terrorists “do not care” what they are called.

He said: “We have got to get out of this wretched posture of apology and defeatism where we believe we are provoking these people to do the things that they are doing.

“When they go and drive car bombs into street markets and kill the first hundred people they can we are not provoking them. They are responsible and they only way you defeat them is by standing up to them."