Phil Taylor's papers
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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA AND THE GWOT Year 6 - 2007
Blair: West could lose al-Qa'ida propaganda war by A Grice 
The Independent, 18 May 2007 Blair: West could lose al-Qa'ida propaganda war By Andrew Grice, Political Editor Published: 18 April 2007 The Government has conceded that the West is in danger of losing the propaganda war against al-Qa'ida and is to step up its efforts to win support around the world. The admission came in a cabinet review of foreign policy, which disclosed that the Government is to set up a special research and communications unit to counter al-Qa'ida's ideology and "extremist propaganda by hostile regimes". Launching the document yesterday, Tony Blair said: "The fact is that if you want to take the fight to the terrorists, you have got to defeat their propaganda, their ideas as well as their methods." The Prime Minister said that required "greater cohesion" across the Government, since the battle against terrorism could not be handled separately by departments such as the Home Office or Foreign Office. The report, one of six policy statements designed to secure Mr Blair's legacy, conceded: "Some of al-Qa'ida's main weapons are ideological and media-oriented. We need to be more effective at telling our side of the story and explaining our values, in order to expose distortions in their vision of the world. We need to understand better the links between extremist ideology originating from abroad and how those ideas are spread in the UK." But there were few other concessions to critics of the Prime Minister's foreign policy in the 38-page review. An unrepentant Mr Blair told his monthly Downing Street press conference that Britain would only maintain its influence on the world stage if it was prepared to use "hard", or military, power and stand by the United States "when the going gets tough". In a coded warning to Gordon Brown, his most likely successor, he warned that Britain would lose its clout if it tried to pursue a more independent foreign policy - as many people in the Labour Party hope to see after he stands down this summer. Mr Blair defended his interventionist foreign policy but denied that events in Iraq would make it more difficult to win international action against countries such as Sudan over the crisis in Darfur. "The reality of today's world is that you can't opt out of these conflicts - certainly not if you want to retain any control over the factors and events that are going to effect the security of your own country," he said. The Prime Minister argued: "If we want to remain a strong power, capable of wielding real influence in the world, then we have to keep two principles intact - that we are allies of America and strong central partners in Europe, and secondly that we are prepared to use hard as well as soft power." "It is also important to recognise that your allies are real allies when the going is tough and not simply when the going is easy. I happen to believe our strategic relationship with the United States has served this country well for many, many decades and should continue to serve us well." If Britain adopted an independent foreign policy from the US, that strategic relationship would be weakened, which would be "tragic" for Britain and the world, he said. After the 9/11 attacks, America felt it was at war. "I believed the most important thing for us was to be with them in that fight and I believe that still and I hope that in future we will be strong allies of America," Mr Blair said. He also warned that there was a danger of America becoming disengaged from the rest of the world, when European countries would realise what they had lost. |