174 / Justice, terrorism, Islam - what's the link?
I am not a fan of Tony Blair - after all he was one of the architects of the War on Terror.
However, he makes an interesting point when he says that extremists are outfoxing the West (SMH). Most Muslims accepted the narrative that military interventions since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US were an explicit attack on Muslims, Mr Blair said.
''The practitioners of extremism are small in number; the adherents of the narrative stretch far broader into parts of mainstream thinking,'' he said.
Mr Blair explained how he saw the narrative: ''It is that Islam is basically oppressed by the West, disrespected and treated unfairly; that the military action we took post-9/11 was against countries because they are Muslim; and that in the Middle East we ignore the injustice done to the Palestinians in our desire to support Israel, because the Palestinians are Muslims, and the Israelis Jews. It is a narrative that now has vast numbers of assembled websites, blogs and organisations.''
The question is, how true is that narrative? Is the West ignoring the injustice done to the Palestinians? I believe the question of the injustice perpetrated on the Palestinians is the key issue with the terrorism quagmire. Terrorism (as we know it today) began with their dis-enfranchising and will end with them given justice, freedom, equality and prosperity.