Tony Blair in Retrospect

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Coming to the end of Tony Blair's premiereship, he has been taking a lot of hits over Iraq and is perhaps painted as something of a tragedy. David Brooks sees the more heroic side:

He saw the terrorists of Sept. 11 as extremists who sought to divide humanity between the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-harb — the House of Islam and the House of War. “This is not a clash between civilizations,” he said last year in the greatest speech of his premiership. “It is a clash about civilization. It is the age-old battle between progress and reaction, between those who embrace and see opportunity in the modern world and those who reject its existence.” He concluded that Britain had to combat those who would divide the human community, even without the support of the multilateral institutions that he cherished.

Our Dubya naturally had to take the lead, and that is where the tragedy lies for everybody.


(Source: David Brooks for The New York Times)

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Tony Blair in Retrospect

♠
Coming to the end of Tony Blair's premiereship, he has been taking a lot of hits over Iraq and is perhaps painted as something of a tragedy. David Brooks sees the more heroic side:

He saw the terrorists of Sept. 11 as extremists who sought to divide humanity between the Dar al-Islam and the Dar al-harb — the House of Islam and the House of War. “This is not a clash between civilizations,” he said last year in the greatest speech of his premiership. “It is a clash about civilization. It is the age-old battle between progress and reaction, between those who embrace and see opportunity in the modern world and those who reject its existence.” He concluded that Britain had to combat those who would divide the human community, even without the support of the multilateral institutions that he cherished.

Our Dubya naturally had to take the lead, and that is where the tragedy lies for everybody.


(Source: David Brooks for The New York Times)

xXx