Iran Focus: London, Mar. 23 British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iran on Wednesday of meddling furiously in Iraq and said that the ruling theocracy had a terrorist ideology at its heart. Iran Focus
London, Mar. 23 British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iran on Wednesday of meddling furiously in Iraq and said that the ruling theocracy had a terrorist ideology at its heart.
Blair also hinted at an Iran-Al-Qaeda axis and said that for them, Britain and democratic countries were the enemy.
The conventional view is that, for example, Iran is hostile to al-Qaeda and therefore would never support its activities. But as we know from our own history of conflict, under the pressure of battle, alliances shift and change. Fundamentally, for this ideology, we are the enemy, the British Prime Minister said.
He was speaking to an audience in London in the first of three speeches on international issues.
The different aspects of this terrorism are linked. The struggle against terrorism in Madrid or London or Paris is the same as the struggle against the terrorist acts of Hezbollah in Lebanon or the PIJ in Palestine or rejectionist groups in Iraq. The murder of the innocent in Beslan is part of the same ideology that takes innocent lives in Saudi Arabia, the Yemen or Libya.
And when Iran gives support to such terrorism, it becomes part of the same battle with the same ideology at its heart.
He accused foreign Jihadists, former Saddamists, and rejectionist insurgents of trying to prevent democracy from taking root in Iraq.
Why is it so important to the forces of reaction and violence to halt Iraq in its democratic tracks and tip it into sectarian war? Blair asked. Why does Iran meddle so furiously in the stability of Iraq?
The answer is that the reactionary elements know the importance of victory or defeat in Iraq.
Blair added that reactionary elements pursued a strategy which involved derailment of both reconstruction and democracy by violence. When that strategy failed to push the [Multi-National Force”> out of Iraq prematurely and failed to stop the voting; they turned to sectarian killing and outrage most notably February’s savage and blasphemous destruction of the Shia Shrine at Samarra.
They know that if they can succeed either in Iraq or Afghanistan or indeed in Lebanon or anywhere else wanting to go the democratic route, then the choice of a modern democratic future for the Arab or Muslim world is dealt a potentially mortal blow. Likewise if they fail, and those countries become democracies and make progress and, in the case of Iraq, prosper rapidly as it would; then not merely is that a blow against their whole value system; but it is the most effective message possible against their wretched propaganda about America, the West, the rest of the world.
