Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says that Islamic extremism is a “poison” that “must be eradicated.”

Blair said the world does not understand the depth of the problem and that it might be too late by the time the world sees the true goal of the terrorists.  Blair also referenced the slaughter of Christians at the hands of the terrorists that has gone largely unanswered by the West.

“If we allow these things to continue, then in the end, the extremists will carry on believing they can get away with this,” Blair told John Catsimatidis’ “Cats Roundtable” radio show.  “We need to mobilize a huge amount of support wherever this type of terrorism and extremism is happening, to go make sure it’s defeated.”

Blair said that he doesn’t believe the extremists represent the whole of Islam but that it was created from within the religion.

“We need to make sure that young people in many of these countries who have been educated to a close-minded view of the world instead get an education toward tolerance and respect for people of different faiths,” Blair said.

Blair had warned in September 2014 that it would be unlikely that ISIS could be defeated in Syria and Iraq without deployment of ground troops.

“Unless you’re prepared to fight these people on the ground, you may contain them but you won’t defeat them,” Blair had said.