Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---------------------------------------------
Bleeeeuuurrggghhhhhhhh... sorry can't help it.
>From: "Knight, Jonathan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Tony Blair interview: transcript in full [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
>Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2001 09:10:35 +0100
>
>Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
>---------------------------------------------
>
>Try not to throw up at this. Butcher Blair's hypocrisy is unbelievable.
>This
>is a man responsible for the deaths of thousands of people and for
>encouraging terrorists world wide. The, I hesitate to call him a man, is
>despicable.
>JDK
>
>Wednesday, 19 September, 2001, 13:11 GMT 14:11 UK
>Tony Blair interview: transcript in full
>UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was interviewed on BBC's World Service's
>Newshour on Tuesday about the UK's role following last week's terror
>attacks
>in the US. Here is the transcript of the interview in full.
>Alex Brodie: Is Osama Bin Laden your prime suspect?
>Tony Blair: He is the prime suspect.
>We are still assembling the evidence and we have said we will do so in a
>careful and measured way.
>But we've known for some time of his activities and those of his
>associates,
>that have been designed to spread terror around the world that are I
>believe
>fundamentally contrary to the basic teachings of Islam.
>And in respect of this particular incident there's no doubt at all - as
>both
>ourselves and President have said - he is the prime suspect.
>AB: Him alone or anybody else?
>TB: Well, when we assemble the evidence finally, we will present it to
>people.
>But as we have said he is the prime suspect.
>AB: Have you seen evidence yourself?
>TB: Yes of course, all the time we are going through evidence that comes to
>us from various sources and what is important, as I said the other day, is
>that when we proceed, we proceed on the basis of a hard-headed assessment
>of
>that evidence.
>But I think, people are still taking in the enormity of what happened last
>week.
>Thousands of people killed in the worst terrorist incident of all time.
>This was the worst terrorist incident in respect of British citizens -
>incidentally 200 - 300 killed - since World War II.
>When you think that Britain went through the Blitz when we were under
>attack
>- day in day out - for several years and we lost just over 20,000 of our
>citizens.
>Here were 5,000 or more murdered, literally, in a day and I think some
>impression is given of just how serious this is.
>Let's be quite clear as well, the thing that we have to confront and the
>reason why we have to take action against this apparatus of terrorism at
>every level, is that if these people were able to kill more people they
>would.
>The only limits on their actions are not moral in any sense at all - they
>are practical or technical.
>AB: Is it Osama Bin Laden who you have the evidence against that he was
>actively involved in planning what happened in the United States or is it
>just that you have evidence that he has set up a network?
>TB: Well Alex, when we are in a position to put evidence before people, we
>will put it before them then.
>What we have said so far, because people have asked us and it's right
>because this is where the evidence tends, that he is the prime suspect.
>AB: Anybody else?
>TB: There may be various other people but that is a matter that we can deal
>with when we come to present the evidence fully?
>AB: And do you know where he is?
>TB: We know that he is in Afghanistan.
>We know the various places that he has been.
>But it is important that other people co-operate with us in ensuring that
>he
>is brought to justice and this is a situation in which those who have been
>harbouring him or helping him have a very simple choice.
>They either cease the protection of Bin Laden or they will be treated as
>people helping him.
>AB: This is echoing what George Bush said isn't it about how we will go not
>just for the perpetrators but for those who harbour him - and you are
>talking about the Taleban?
>TB: Well, for all those people who have been in a position where they have
>been helping or harbouring terrorism - the way that it operates, camps that
>are dedicated to training people in it.
>These are people trained in these camps who go out and basically wreak
>havoc
>wherever they can, killing many, many innocent people.
>And although what happened last week is obviously an atrocity almost beyond
>our imagination, it is not an isolated incident - in that sense, there has
>been a history going back over several years.
>Now you mention the Taleban - the Taleban have a very clear choice - the
>Taleban either cease to help or harbour those that are fermenting terrorism
>or they will be treated as part of the terrorist apparatus themselves.
>Now they have that choice and they should consider very, very carefully the
>consequences that they face at this moment of choice.
>AB: If they don't give him up, what are those consequences?
>TB: Those are the consequences again that we will consider and we will
>announce the appropriate response when we have made up our minds.
>AB: So what you are looking for the Taleban to do now, is to say - you can
>have him we will extradite him, we will give him up.
>TB: We are looking for the Taleban to co-operate on the basis of the
>evidence that we present - co-operate and make sure that the person that is
>identified as the prime suspect and his associates are yielded up to
>justice.
>Now that is not all however, it is also important that the whole of that
>network of training people for terrorist acts around the world is closed
>down.
>Indeed, that should happen irrespective..
>[interrupted by interviewer]
>AB: But that network is broader than Afghanistan isn't it?
>I mean we hear all the time about how there are training camps set up in
>something like 30 different countries.
>Hasn't it gone beyond Bin Laden?
>TB: Of course it certainly does not stop with Bin Laden or with what has
>happened in Afghanistan.
>But the immediate issue, if, as seems likely, he is identified as the
>person
>responsible and those associated with them are therefore identified as
>responsible, that is the immediate response that we must make.
>But there are always two strands to this.
>Right from the very beginning I have said there will be two different parts
>of the agenda that the international community must take on board and act
>upon.
>The first is the immediate response in respect of those responsible for
>this
>atrocity.
>The second is then to develop an agenda at the international level in
>respect of international terrorism generally - how it is financed, where it
>operates from, how it moves its people around, how it makes use of some of
>the mechanisms that operate in all our countries - the bank accounts, the
>way that they acquire weapons - the whole panoply of that terrorist machine
>whose full potential to devastate and damage we have now seen - all of that
>we must pursue at an international level.
>AB: But we knew this was happening didn't we before the terrible events in
>the United States?
>Surely an international network along the lines of an international
>crime-fighting network already existed didn't it?
>And if not isn't it a bit late now?
>TB: Well I think you make a fair point in this sense that this has brought
>home to us the urgency of the situation.
>Now in fact some of us have been saying for some time this is a real issue
>that we need to be concerned about.
>And, as I said in the House of Commons a few days ago, if these could
>acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons capability, they would.
>And I say, there's no limit on what they would do if they had the technical
>capability to do it.
> <<...>> The attack on it [the United States] was an attack on the
>civilised world and the ability of people to go about their business free
>from this menace of terror <<...>>
>
>Now right round the world - and this is why I think that the coalition of
>countries coming together and they include - I mean I have spoken in the
>last few days, I have spoken to not just obviously the American President
>and our American allies, I have to the French President, the German
>Chancellor.
>I spoke to the President of China today, I spoke to the Russian President.
>I have spoken to friends in Europe, friends in Asia, friends right round
>the
>world and Arab leaders as well.
>And all of them recognise the need to put together the strongest possible
>international coalition to fight this menace of terrorism.
>And that coalition, I believe, is strengthening incidentally.
>The interesting thing that is happening is that often in these situations
>when they first occur there is a deep sense of shock and concern and then
>there is sense - well people relax a little bit and the strength of feeling
>diminishes somewhat.
>I don't think that's happened at all.
>I think the strength of feeling is gathering momentum.
>And I certainly notice, and again I met African leaders today, that right
>round the world people recognise that we have to stand in solidarity with
>the United States - not simply because it's the United States but because
>the attack on it was an attack on the civilised world and the ability of
>people to go about their business free from this menace of terror.
>AB: You mention bringing Osama Bin Laden to justice - whose justice?
>Are we looking - are you discussing something on the lines of Lockerbie?
>Are you discussing something along the lines of an international court?
>Taleban leaders are reported to have talked about an international court
>with a Muslim judge.
>Is this the sort of thing that you're considering with Mr Bush?
>TB: All the issues connected with this will obviously be considered and
>deliberated upon.
>We will announce our conclusions of that at the appropriate time.
>Forgive me, one the problems in doing interviews at this moment in time is
>that there are certain questions that we will answer at a later time when
>it
>is appropriate.
>AB: You have written in the Urdu language newspaper Daily Jang.
>You've made various remarks which are intended to say this is not a war -
>this is not a campaign against Islam.
>Isn't the rhetoric giving the lie to that when we talk about war, when we
>talk about crusades, when we talk about the defence of civilisation.
>There are many Muslims around the world who feel that they are being
>painted
>as barbarians.
>TB: But they're not and I have gone out of my way - as indeed has President
>Bush and others - to stress that we know that the vast majority of Muslims
>are decent law-abiding people.
>The doctrine and teachings of Islam are those of peace and harmony.
>I read the Koran - the god of the Koran is merciful and forgiving.
>It is a whole teaching dedicated to building peace in the world and
>therefore those people who've committed this atrocity, they no more
>represent the true spirit of Islam than does the Protestant or Catholic on
>the streets of Northern Ireland that murders someone of the opposite part
>of
>the Christian religion, represent the true spirit of Christianity.
>AB: Indeed. But misguided though they may be, you do have to accept don't
>you that there are many, many people around the world - many Muslims around
>the world who see Osama Bin Laden as a hero.
>TB: There may be those - I don't think they're very many - who do.
>But it is our task, along with moderate Muslim and Arab opinion to say that
>is not what the teaching of Islam is about.
>And what is necessary to do is to build that coalition very much with
>Muslim
>and Arab opinion with us. Because there are Muslims who will have died in
>that appalling attack.
>AB: Indeed. But words are being thrown around like 'crusade'.
>I mean if there is one word that is calculated to send the wrong message to
>the Muslim world it is surely crusade.
>TB: Yes. But I think that people understand.
>It's like when people say to you - are you at war in this situation.
>With the people that have committed this atrocity - of course we are at
>war.
>
>But the important thing is what we do and how we do it.
>Now I also think that there is a sense in which people understand that we
>need to, for example, give fresh impetus to the Middle East peace process.
>Now today for the first time in several weeks there were certain small
>glimmers of hope - small glimmers they were, yes - but they were there.
>Now I think that we must use this as an opportunity to push that process
>forward and to recognise that yes of course there are situations where
>people feel deeply about injustices that they've perceived that have been
>done to them and we have to respond to that as well.
>I think that that will allow us better then to build that strong coalition
>of support to go after the people that have committed an act of terrorism
>that I don't think that any serious, sensible, decent, moral person could
>possibly contemplate or justify.
>AB: King Abdullah of Jordan said that if Washington had resolved the
>problems in the Middle East - especially the Palestinian/Israeli conflict,
>then these attacks would not have happened. Do you agree?
>TB: I believe that these attacks were a long time in the planning, I have
>to
>say.
>And I also believe that the extremists, the fanatics that carried out these
>attacks, frankly they're the enemies of the peace process.
>I mean these people don't want peace anymore than, for example, those
>dissident Republicans who blew up people at Omagh, want peace in Northern
>Ireland.
>What I find - and we have experience of the peace process here in Britain
>and in the United Kingdom through the Northern Ireland situation - what I
>find is that in fact it is fanatics on either side who want to disrupt the
>peace process and the important thing is always to keep that process moving
>forward because it's when there's a vacuum that the extremists move in with
>their violence and their terrorism.
>AB: But it's a matter of perception isn't it?
>It is a matter of how things are perceived, particularly in the Muslim
>world.
>I mean the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a hub of resentment that enables
>people like Osama Bin Laden to garnish support.
>TB: Well of course they do try and exploit the sense of grievance or
>injustice.
>But that's why it's important to say, no there is a better way of
>addressing
>the grievance of injustice and that is through a process that leads to a
>stable and lasting peace.
>And again here I find a very great sense of community of spirit and of
>purpose right across the world.
>AB: Now I know you don't want to talk about what comes next in terms of
>military - obviously one wouldn't expect you to.
>But do you rule anything out?
>TB: Well it is important we start with the simple objective to bring those
>responsible to account now.
>Questions of what you rule in and rule out are simply not appropriate at
>this stage.
>Because when we've decided finally these are the people responsible, we
>then
>decide the appropriate response and that's what we'll do.
>AB: But is there ... I mean do you rule out getting involved in a military
>operation for instance to Afghanistan?
>TB: Well, as I say, all these questions will be decided at the right time
>and announced at the right time.
>I think it's important at the moment that people understand two things: one
>that we're proceeding and the United States is proceeding in a measured
>way.
>
>A lot of people might have expected the United States to have lashed out -
>to have acted first and thought afterwards - they haven't done that and
>it's
>to the great credit of President Bush that he has proceeded in that way,
>that's the first thing.
>But the second thing nobody should be in any doubt of is our total and
>complete determination to do what is necessary in order to bring to justice
>those who perpetrated this crime.
>AB: One cannot help but notice the sheer weight of the number of contacts
>that you yourself have made in the last few days around the world.
>Are you doing this on your own behalf or are you doing this on Mr Bush's
>behalf?
>Or are you somehow being a bridge?
>TB: I regard this as very much a situation in which we are standing side by
>side with the United States and with the rest of the civilised world.
>So, it is not a question of doing it on America's behalf or anyone else's
>behalf.
>It is important that we establish the most clear and strong basis of
>understanding right across the international community for what has
>happened
>and what we need to do in order to bring to account those responsible.
>I have been both struck and heartened by the degree of consensus that
>exists
>there.
>I think that people really understand this is a new phenomenon - not in the
>sense there haven't been fanatics in our history before - but in the sense
>that we live in a world today where fanatics, if they're able to, can get
>their technical capability to wreak the most terrible damage on wholly
>innocent people.
>AB: Do you think that the Americans want to do this with everybody else?
>Do they actually want to build a coalition or is this window dressing?
>TB: No, I've not doubt at all that they want the broadest possible basis of
>support.
>And for America, faced with a situation of which this terrible, terrible
>crime has been committed against them - for America, it is a moment at
>which
>they look at the rest of world - look at it and ask the question: are you
>standing with us at this time of trial for us or are you not?
>And I think they are right to ask that question and I think - not because
>they're America but because of the nature of the event that has been
>committed against them - we the rest of the world have got to say we do
>stand with you - you know, we all have a common cause.
>Because be in no doubt at all, if we allow this apparatus of terror to go
>unchecked and to grow, America was a casualty in that terrible event last
>week - but they could come to Britain, they could go to France, to Germany,
>to Arab states.
>When I met the President of Tanzania this morning, he was describing to me
>devastation that had been caused by those acts of terrorism in his country.
>So this is the situation in which we stand together, we stand together
>because it is the right thing to do.
>And I regard part of my task, as well as fashioning the right response, to
>be part of building a broad coalition for action.
>And I have no doubt at all that America will act because America has to
>defend itself in this situation.
>But America will want and should have its allies standing alongside her.
>AB: The intense diplomacy that you are involved in and others are involved
>in surrounding this, indicates the danger that everybody believes we are
>now
>in - the world is now in.
>How dangerous do you think it is now?
>TB: I think it is very dangerous if we do not take action and check it
>because..
>AB: But how dangerous is the action itself?
>TB: I think people will understand if that action is properly measured and
>directed against those responsible or those helping those responsible.
>I think people will understand that.
>But I think that the reason why it is dangerous is because: one, these acts
>of terrorism have obviously the capacity to do enormous damage and two, the
>damage itself can set in train consequences that are then difficult to
>govern and to deal with.
>And if I'm right in saying that these groups would if they could get hold
>of
>chemical or biological or nuclear weapons capability, then I think we would
>be deeply irresponsible if we didn't take action.
>And the truth is they have been allowed to operate for far too long.
>I mean all of us - I mean we're looking now in Britain at the laws that we
>may have to alter or change and the practices we may need to shape in a
>different way as a result of what is happening.
>We cannot have a situation where these people, with impunity, are operating
>out of our countries, are financing their acts of terrorism, are moving
>around freely - are often living, you know, off benefits provided by the
>state in various countries around the world and plotting these acts of
>terrorism.
>It can't be right. And so we, in fact, strengthened our law here
>significantly last year with the Terrorism Act and that did make an impact.
>But I think we and other countries have got to look at these things
>carefully.
>
>-------------------------------------------------
>This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com
>that has been shut down
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
-------------------------------------------------
This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been
shut down
==^================================================================
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA
Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This email was sent to: [email protected]
T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================
