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| Blair on Arabic TV to Rebut bin Laden |
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TUE, OCT 09, 2001
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British Prime Minister Tony Blair went on Arabic satellite television on Monday in an attempt to rebut claims by Osama Bin Laden that the military strikes was aimed at the Islamic world.
Recorded in an interview with Qatar's al Jazeera station, Blair told the Arab world that this was not a war against Muslims, but against terrorists, BBC reported.
The Arabic channel broadcasted a video statement by Osama Bin Laden on Sunday in which he has issued a strongly-worded warning to the United States. He warned that Americans would not live in peace until Palestinians could do the same.
But Blair said Britain had long supported the idea of a Palestinian state if it emerged from peaceful negotiations and helped ensure regional stability.
"Which is why I think it is so wrong when people like bin Laden or the Taliban regime misuse the Palestinian cause to justify the killing of thousands of people," he told al Jazeera.
Blair said that bin Laden's network posed as big threat to moderate Arab states as it did to the West. "This is not about the West versus Islam," he said. "Decent Muslims, millions of them in European countries have condemned these acts of terrorism in New York and elsewhere in America with every bit as much force as any of the rest of us."
He warned that bin Laden wanted to install Taliban regimes across the Middle East. "Let us be clear, when we listen to the words of Osama bin Laden, if he had his way, the regimes that he would replace regimes in the Arab world with would be like the Taliban regime in Afghanistan."
"I don't believe that anybody seriously wants to live under that kind of regime," he added.
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