Blair also said bin Laden’s death could mark the descent of al Qaeda’s stranglehold over the Muslim world.

“It’s pretty clear that al Qaeda’s image has been going down. They’ve been killing Muslims more than they’ve been killing anybody else,” Blair said.

“So I think if we’re lucky we’ve passed the high water mark of that organization. There will be other organizations and they will still provide an ideological inspiration for some people who have beefs with the United States and with others. But we might be able to turn a corner and that’s a good thing.”