From "Fertile Crescent" to "Arc of Extremism"

From Basra to Gaza, Tony Blair coins a phrase along the lines of "Axis of Evil." Kind of rolls off the tongue.

The prime minister said: "There is an arc of extremism now stretching across the Middle East and touching countries far outside that region."

He said in Iraq, Syria had allowed al-Qaeda operatives to "cross the border" while Iran had supported extremist Shia.

"The purpose of the terrorism in Iraq is absolutely simple - carnage, causing sectarian hatred, leading to civil war," he said.
...
Mr Blair also spoke about the conflict between Israel and Lebanon and said that the "purpose of the provocation" that began it "was clear".

We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force.

Ummmm PM; sounds good but you have things at home you may want to look at.

"It was to create chaos, division and bloodshed, to provoke retaliation by Israel that would lead to Arab and Muslim opinion being inflamed, not against those who started the aggression but against those who responded to it," he said.

Sad to say though, he adds a John Lennon-like pie-in-the-sky PC nightmare comment that, if he is serious, means that we have an unachievable End State.

"To defeat it will need an alliance of moderation that paints a different future in which Muslim, Jew and Christian, Arab and Western, wealthy and developing nations can make progress in peace and harmony.

...and the Lion will lay down with the Lamb.