Tony Blair speaks on the need to confront terrorism: Speech

Tony Blair speaks on the need to confront terrorism: Speech; ENGLAND: London:INTTony Blair MP (Prime Minister) onto stage at National Policy Forum conference Blair sitting in chair as unseen man begins conference then introduces Blair (applause) SOTTony Blair MP (Prime Minister) speech SOT- Thank you/ At the outset let me express our condolences to families of soldiers who lost their life earlier today (in Iraq)/ The bravery of our armed forces is yet again underlined as they help Iraq and their people towards the democracy they so desperately want- What I'm going to do today is to divide my speech into two sections/ I hope you understand I want to say certain things about the events of the past ten days, then I want to come more directly to the issues that are raised by the policy forum today/ Let me underline something that Ian said right at the outset as well, and that is my thanks to the National Policy Forum for the work they did, particularly at Warwick last year which was absolutely essential in providing the basis for that third term victory- Let me first of all address some words about what has happened recently in our country/ The greatest danger is that we fail to face up to the nature of the threat we are dealing with/ What we witnessed in London last Thursday week was not an errant act, it was not random, it was not a product of particular local circumstances in West Yorkshire/ Senseless though any horible murder is, it was not without sense for its organisers/ It had a purpose, it was done according to a plan, it was meant/ What we are confronting here is an evil ideology, it is not a clash of civilisations, all civilised people, Muslim or other, feel revulsion at it/ But it is a global struggle, and it is a battle of ideas, hearts and minds, both within Islam and outside it/ This is the battle that must be won/ A battle not just about terrorist methods but their views, not just their barbaric acts, but their barbaric ideas, not...