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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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For Blair, Iraq Was No Anomaly

Brooks: War he co-authored was a disaster, but consistent with his values

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(Newser) – As Tony Blair prepares his exit from No. 10, the British left is already eulogizing the PM as a good man consigned by circumstance to a bad war. Not so, says David Brooks: The crux of Blair's political philosophy was a radical, religious communitarianism, which sired both his leftist leanings domestically, and a genuinely felt interventionism in Iraq.

Blair's thinking was deeply informed by theologian John Macmurray, who thought globalization necessitated, in Blair's words, "a common value system to make it work." Blair consequently stumped for intervention in Kosovo and Iraq, hoping to coalesce clashing civilizations. Brooks holds out hope for Blair's idealism, "despite the disaster in Iraq he co-authored."

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Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair on the doorstep at Downing Street, London, Friday May 11, 2007. Blair formally endorsed Gordon Brown Friday to be prime minister _ the first time he has offered support for the British treasury chief's bid for the office.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair on the doorstep at Downing Street, London, Friday May 11, 2007. Blair formally endorsed Gordon Brown Friday to be prime minister _ the first time he has offered support...   (Associated Press)
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