British Muslims Criticize Blair

NYT reported In their open letter on Saturday, 38 Islamic organizations, three of the four Muslim legislators from the House of Commons and three of the four Muslim members of the House of Lords accused Mr. Blair of adopting policies that exposed the nation to terrorist attack.

Does that mean that they are not going to do anything to discontinue the attacks, unless Blair adopts policies they approve of?

The argument is that by joining the United States war on terror, Britain has joined what some Muslims call a war on Islam, stirring anger across the Islamic world.

“It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the U.K. and abroad,” the letter said. Its signatories included the Muslim Council of Britain, which projects itself as the leading representative Muslim group, and peers such as Lord Patel of Blackburn.

“To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation,” the letter said. “While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.”

It continued: “Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the prime minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy

So they do seek to get Blair to change foreign policy to one they support.

to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.”

Betsy Newmark blogged In an effort to show how deeply they're worried about terrorist plots by British Muslims to kill thousands of airplane passengers, British Muslim leaders have written a public letter criticizing.....Tony Blair. Yup, those leaders seem to think that the fault for these terrorist plots lies in Tony Blair's policies in the Middle East. There is, apparently, no self-awareness of the poison growing within their own communities.