Blair: Middle East conflict to blame
British Prime Minister says, ‘This type of terrorism has very deep roots, Thursday’s bomb attacks on London demonstrate the pressing need for world leaders to tackle problems like poverty’
LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday it is crucial to address terrorism's underlying causes, which he identified as deprivation, lack of democracy and ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Thursday's bomb attacks on London demonstrate the pressing need for world leaders to tackle problems like poverty, he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. He said leaders had taken on some of those issues at the G-8 summit of the world's wealthy nations in Scotland this week.
That meant boosting understanding between people of difference religions, helping people in the Middle East see a path to democracy and easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, he said.
"Ultimately what we now know, if we didn't before, is that where there is extremism, fanaticism or acute and appalling forms of poverty in one continent, the consequences no longer stay fixed in that continent," Blair said.
Later, the Associated Press (AP) retracted sections of this report in which it falsely claimed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair blamed the July 7 London terrorist attacks on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.
