House and Senate Republicans, who are meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this weekend to plot strategy for the coming session of Congress, were treated to a rousing presentation by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on how to fight Islamic extremism.
Blair’s speech featured three standing ovations by lawmakers and selected staff. Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole called the speech “Churchillian.”
Although the speech was closed to the press and public, several lawmakers gave their impressions of Blair’s talk afterwards.
Blair’s speech, which was closed to the public and the media, included a call for America to lead on the world stage rather than to try to be loved there, according to a person in attendance. Rep. Tom Cole said Blair focused on the importance of fighting against extremism around the world at an event said to be well attended by members and staffers alike.
“Tony Blair just gave one of the most masterful presentations on the spread of Islamic terrorism,” the Oklahoma Republican said, calling it “Churchillian.”
Another person in the room told CQ Roll Call a “handful” of questions from lawmakers followed the formal remarks about the Middle East, including about Blair’s views on President Barack Obama’s performance in world affairs and addressing threats from radicals.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said Blair gave an “excellent” presentation about fighting terrorism.
“He contends that … countries throughout the world, freedom-loving countries, are going to have to work together. There is going to have to be a sustained effort, it’s going to take time. There is both a military aspect to it, you have to stand up to Islamic extremism and terrorism where it occurs,” Hoeven said. “And you also have to have the aspect where you reach out and connect with people in the Middle East on the idea of freedom and liberty and human rights.”
Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn was live-tweeting snippets of Blair’s remarks, including a comment about the humanitarian crisis caused by the myriad challenges in Syria. According to Cornyn, Blair said half of the country’s population has left as Syria has been torn by torn by fighting between rebel groups; the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The speech came just hours before current British Prime Minister David Cameron held a meeting with President Obama and top U.S. officials about the terror threat and how to combat it. Unlike President Obama, Blair holds no illusions about whom and what we are fighting.
According to the witness, Blair said radical Islam was a perverted ideology that justified the use of force against those of other religions or Muslims who interpreted their faith differently. It was hostile to “us and our values”, he claimed, and though some want to negotiate with it or ignore it, neither of those approaches would work and it had to be confronted.
The former prime minister also talked about the lessons of the post-9/11 era. He reportedly argued that the US and UK had learned that if you topple dictators, you release other forces that have to be dealt with. However, the Arab Spring demonstrated that many of those dictatorships would be swept away in any event.
It was hard to be successful “unless you had allies within Islam itself”, he reportedly said, adding that the Middle East would continue to evolve away from what it is and that unless extremism was fought it would continue to grow. He was said to be “extremely concerned” about the emergence of the Islamic State (Isis) in Syria and Iraq.
Nonetheless, the former prime minister was said be hopeful about the prospect of building further alliances in the Middle East, arguing that many Islamic leaders in recent years had come to understand that they too were the targets of radical Islam. He even thought that over time there could be an alliance of sorts between Israel and the Arab states against radical Islam.But he concluded that America would have to play a leading role in what he thought would be a “generational” struggle and urged the Republicans present not to disengage and to rise to the task and recognise it was “our problem as well as theirs”.
Like the rest of us, lawmakers yearn for clarity from our leaders regarding the threat we face. It is telling that after his talk with Prime Minister Cameron, the British leader said that we were at war with Islamist extremists” while the president insisted that we fight “violent extremism.”
It’s too bad President Obama can’t follow the examples of Cameron and Blair in identifying the enemy. His failure in this regard only serves to highlight his stubborn adherence to political correctness when everyone else on the planet knows the truth.
He makes the United States look ridiculous.
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