Blair calls for rethink to tackle 'arc of extremism'

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for a radical foreign policy rethink to combat an "arc of extremism" stretching …

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for a radical foreign policy rethink to combat an "arc of extremism" stretching across the Middle East.

Speaking yesterday to the World Affairs Council in Los Angeles on the final day of his California visit, Mr Blair said there needed to be a "complete renaissance of our strategy to defeat those that threaten us".

There was now a war "of a completely unconventional kind" being waged and he conceded that some mistakes had been made in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force, unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world
Prime MinisterTony Blair

Mr Blair's comments came as Britain blocked moves by the European Union to call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon. An original draft from EU foreign ministers calling for an immediate ceasefire was watered down, reportedly in the face of objections by Britain, backed by Germany and the Czech Republic.

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"The crisis in the Lebanon has not changed its thesis - it has brought it into sharp relief," Mr Blair said last night. "The purpose of the provocation that began the conflict was clear. 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 efforts to halt the hostilities would continue but "once that has happened we must commit ourselves to a complete renaissance of our strategy to defeat those that threaten us".

Mr Blair added: "There is an arc of extremism now stretching across the Middle East and touching countries far outside that region."

The Prime Minister went on: "We will not win the battle against this global extremism unless we win it at the level of values as much as force, unless we show we are even-handed, fair and just in our application of those values to the world.

"This is war, but of a completely unconventional kind. This war can't be won in a conventional way, it can only be won by showing that our values are stronger, better and more just, more fair than the alternatives."

Downing Street meanwhile was faced with further claims of dissatisfaction within ministerial ranks over Mr Blair's refusal to take a tougher line with Israel.

A BBC report, quoting "ministerial" sources, said that No 10 had rebuffed an approach from Foreign Office officials urging Mr Blair to change tack and press for immediate ceasefire during his current visit to the US. Neither Downing Street nor the Foreign Office would comment on the report.