Tony Blair: Soldiers may be needed in Islamic State fight

Writing on his Faith Foundation website, Blair said it would be better if the troops were to come from those closer to the fighting, such as Iraqi or Kurdish forces, but this may not be enough.

|
Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters
Quartet Representative to the Middle East and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (not pictured) to discuss latest developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and means to resolve it, in Cairo August 6.

Western powers must be ready to commit ground forces to the fight against militants from the Islamic State group because airstrikes alone won't defeat these "fanatical" extremists, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday.

Writing on his Faith Foundation website, Blair said it would be better if the troops were to come from those closer to the fighting, such as Iraqi or Kurdish forces, but this may not be enough.

"There is real evidence that now countries in the Middle East are prepared to shoulder responsibility and I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West," Blair said in an essay dated Monday. "But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary."

The US and France have launched airstrikes in hopes of weakening the group.

Blair, whose final years in office were defined by the unpopular and much-criticized British engagement in the Iraq war, said that diplomacy and humanitarian work aren't enough to fight groups like Islamic State.

"Because the enemy we're fighting is fanatical, because they are prepared both to kill and to die, there is no solution that doesn't involve force applied with a willingness to take casualties in carrying the fight through to the end," Blair wrote.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Tony Blair: Soldiers may be needed in Islamic State fight
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0922/Tony-Blair-Soldiers-may-be-needed-in-Islamic-State-fight
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe