19 October 2001
Prime Minister
Good afternoon everyone. Thank you very much indeed for coming here this afternoon, and can I give a particular welcome to our friends and colleagues from the Arab and Muslim media that are here today. I would like to say to you that we intend to hold regular briefings, both from our press people and also an opportunity to question myself from time to time, so that we try and get the right dialogue and communication going between us. And I would like, if I might, just to say before taking your questions to say about a few words about the conduct of the military campaign at the present time and the reasons why we are acting as we are.
Ever since 11 September when over 6,000 innocent people died in the worst terrorist atrocity the world has known, people have understood that we have to take action. We did not act straight away. We considered carefully, we deliberated. We tried to make sure that the action that we took was targeted on those responsible and I want to stress one thing very, very clearly indeed, and I know I have said this many times before, but I think it is worth repeating. This is, and never has been, a struggle between the West and the Arab world or the West and Islam. I do not believe that those that committed the acts of 11 September represent in any shape or form the true faith of Islam, or the true spirit of the teaching of the Koran. And far more important than my saying that, I think that sentiment has been echoed by Muslims the world over, by clerics and scholars of Islam, and by the vast majority of people in the Arab world too.
We also know, as well, of the deep sense of injustice that there is in many parts of the Arab world about the situation in the Middle East and, as you will know from my meeting with Yasser Arafat earlier this week, we are doing what we can to make sure that the Middle East Peace Process is started again, so that we can give some proper opportunity for people to live in peace. Of course this comes against a background of again a deteriorating security situation, the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister, the killing of a young girl today, simply shows the absolute need for restraint on all sides and for those people, the vast majority of whom believe in peaceful coexistence, to retake control of
this process, to drive out the extremes of violence and disorder and make sure that we can bring about a situation in which Israelis and Palestinians live side by side in peace, which in end is the only future prospect for the region.
So we are trying to make progress on those issues too. But we believed following the 11 September and believe passionately now, that we had no alternative but to take action against the terrorist network of the Al-Qu’eda and
against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that gives them shelter, and support and help. Now that military action is precise, it is targeted. It has already destroyed much of the military infrastructure and capability of the Taliban regime. It has also destroyed many of the terrorist camps of the Al-Qu’eda. There will be further action that we are considering taking, again targeted. There is support for the Northern Alliance being given and there is the continued weakening of the Taliban regime.
We only took this action though, I would remind you, after having given an ultimatum to the Taliban regime to yield up those responsible for the 11th September or face the consequences. And it was several weeks after 11 September when we took action, that ultimatum having been ignored.
We are also working as hard as we possibly can on the humanitarian side of this. We have now pledged some $700 million. The money is there available in order to help people both on the borders of Afghanistan and to make sure that we get sufficient food going into Afghanistan. Now there are formidable difficulties there. We know that. But the World Food Programme and the other agencies are working hard in order to get the thousands of tons of food we require into Afghanistan to help people there. And I do emphasise to people that the main difficulty we have in those circumstances is the refusal of the Taliban regime to co-operate with that process, the fact that many of the UN workers who have to go in and work there are worried about their own security, as a result of what the Taliban do, the fact that the Taliban have actually seized materiel, and equipment and sites belonging to the UN, and I would also counsel a great deal of caution too in believing all the various messages that the Taliban put out about what is happening inside Afghanistan. For example claims of 400 civilian deaths. This is the Taliban view. It has not been independently verified in any way at all. You have the example just a short time ago of a village that was supposed to have been bombed by allied warplanes, and in fact it was the infrastructure close to a significant military capability of Al-Qu’eda and the Taliban and so all the way through we need to treat with very great caution some of the reports that come out of Afghanistan when the authors of those reports are the Taliban regime.
I make one other point to you as well, that I believe that the coalition of support remains strong right round the world. I think people understand the necessity for taking action. The alliance in Europe, in the Arab world, in the Muslim world, however greatly people desire for this action to be brought swiftly to an end, they do understand the need for action to be taken, and we are working hard with countries in the region, and indeed through the United Nations, to make sure that in a situation where Afghanistan is ruled by a regime that is a successor to the Taliban, it is broad-based, it includes all the potential main ethnic groupings, and it gives at least some hope of a proper and peaceful future for the people of Afghanistan. After all, they have been victims of conflict for many, many decades now. And if there is good that can emerge after the terrible events that have happened since 11 September, it is an attempt both to put in place a regime that will look after people there, and is broadly representative, and then the commitment from ourselves and others to help in the process of reconstruction.
This is a testing time. In fact I believe that the next few weeks will be the most testing time. But we are on course, on track, to achieve the goals that we set out. We took this action with very great reluctance. We took it because we had no option but to make sure that those that perpetrated the terrible atrocity of 11 September are stopped from doing this again. That is in the interests not just of people in the United States of America, or indeed people in Britain, but in the
interests of people throughout the world. Too many people have suffered for too long under the scourge of this international terrorism and so with whatever reluctance we began this action we will see it through, and we will succeed in it.
Question
What does it take to stop the bombing. Would we wait until the Taliban is toppled and you get bin Laden, or this would go on for good?
Prime Minister
Well the most important thing, obviously, is that we achieve the objectives we set out, which is to bring bin Laden and the Al-Qu’eda network to justice, to close down the terrorist camps, and the Taliban regime have chosen to side with them. But I believe that the situation would be greatly altered, of course, if the present Taliban regime were not in place.
Question
The man on the street in the Arab world is a bit suspicious about the sudden interest by the West in the Middle East Peace Process and about justice to the Palestinians. What can you say to this man on the street who links between the attacks on 11 September and the sudden surge of interest in the Middle East Peace Process. It was due to that that you are suddenly listening and looking at the injustices in the Middle East.
Prime Minister
The first thing to say to you is that nothing could every possibly justify the 11 September attacks. No injustice could justify killing and slaughtering thousands of innocent people. But the second thing is, and I want to say this very, very directly to people in the Arab world, it is simply not the case that we have suddenly discovered an interest in this process. The Tenet Plan, the Mitchell Plan, were born out of our interest in this way before 11 September. When I saw Yasser Arafat on Monday, it was the eleventh meeting I have had with him as
Prime Minister. Now there are not many Heads of Government I have had
that many meetings with. We work on this constantly, but what has happened since 11 September is a renewed sense of urgency to push this process on. And a renewed sense also that if there is any lasting good that can come out of evil, it is to try and make sure that we deal with some of these sources of tension and conflict.
And I believe, and in part I confess to you, governed by my work with the Northern Ireland Peace Process, in the end let us come to the simple realities. The simple realities are one, that Israel exists and will exist and should and is entitled to security and confidence in its own security, and secondly that the Palestinian people deserve a just and peaceful future in their own state. Now those are the two fixed points of this whole conflict. The rest is to find our way to those fixed points, through negotiation and discussion, through necessary compromise and debate, and it is not that we suddenly have discovered an interest in the Middle East Peace Process. We have been dedicated to that
throughout. But it is that we know now that at least as the world looks at all its relationships and how it reconfigures them, there is a chance, if we seize the moment, of getting people to realise that those two fixed points, a secure Israel, confident in its security, a Palestinian State with justice for the Palestinian people, that is achievable, if we have the will to achieve it.
Question
Have you spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, after the incident and if you did speak to him, what was the outcome?
Prime Minister
I spoke to Prime Minister Sharon after my meeting with Yasser Arafat. The Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, has spoken to his counterpart too, after the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister, and obviously what we urge, as we have urged throughout, is our total condemnation of violence of all kinds, and our desire for restraint.
Question
Prime Minister, you have just spoken about the next few weeks being the most testing time and you have spoken also about the new phase. Is it fair to draw from that that we have got to the point in this where getting these people can no longer be done from 30,000 feet up. Where we are actually getting into something on the ground?
Prime Minister
Well, I don’t think we have ever contemplated this simply being done by air power alone. We have always said that there will be a number of phases to this operation, so what is unfolding is exactly what has been planned. I don’t want to say any more about the precise nature of our operations, but our objectives remain as they have been: to shut down the terrorist network, to remove the Taliban regime if they are succouring and helping the Al-Qu’eda terrorist network, which they are doing.
Question
How happy are you with the co-operation you are getting from the Muslim world and how worried are you on the protests going on in different Muslim countries, as you have been to India and Pakistan recently. How happy you are with the meetings and ….. but there are reports that there have been shellings and there is a chance of war in the sub-continent as well, so what is your reaction and what extra actions will you take?
Prime Minister
Well I think the most important thing is that people in the Arab and Muslim world understand why we are acting. The last time I was engaged in military action of this nature was in Kosovo, protecting hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees that were in fact Muslims against ethnic cleansing being undertaken by a dictatorial regime in a country that was in fact a Christian country. And I think that it is important that people in the Muslim world understand that for us, this is a matter of justice. If 6,000 people are murdered in downtown New York on 11
September, we have to act, and if we don’t act, especially when these people are threatening more such acts, then we would not be looking after our own people properly, or the wider interests of the world, and I think that yes of course there will be people who will go out and protest. Though our experience here in this country, and I am sure it is not totally different in the Arab and Muslim world, is that you have always got to be careful not to confuse the people out in the street
protesting with the whole of the population. There are many people who never go out and protest, but they still have their views, and usually their views are more moderate than the people out on the street.
I think the one message that is so important to get across to people is that what bin Laden and the Taliban regime represent is a form of Islam that is not shared by the vast majority of Muslims. Certainly any Muslims I have spoken to. And secondly, that what they want to see is Taliban-type regimes all over the Middle East and elsewhere. And those regimes are repressive, dictatorial, brutal in their treatment of women, and usually regimes that end up being economically disastrous as well. I think if you were to ask most people in Arab and Muslim countries, do you want that type of regime in our country, they would say no. So I think that is the message that we need to get across, and I think the support from the Arab and Muslim world is there. But there is a debate and an argument that is going on in many of the countries from which you come, and my answer to that is, which is one of the reasons why you are here and I am speaking to you, is to say let’s get out there and tell people exactly why we are acting, what it is that we believe in and dispel some of the myths and misconceptions, frankly lies, that are put out by Taliban or extremist propaganda.
Question
…. Would you make some effort to remove the major source of tension between India and Pakistan which is a threat to peace and stability in that part of the world.
Prime Minister
Well of course we recognise the instability as a result of the dispute that there is there. And that is one of the reasons why we are tryingto work as hard as we can, both with India and Pakistan, to reduce tension there and to make it clear also that we believe that the way that we will resolve the difficulties is through negotiation anddiscussion, and between India and Pakistan, and not through violence. Again, these things are all very difficult, but I think you can rest assured that we are very well aware of the dangers arising from that particular source of tension and the need for us to focus upon it.
Question
I have got a few points here, Prime Minister. Yesterday, the Israeli Security Cabinet, there were rumoured reports that it recommended that the Israeli Army reoccupies the Ghaza Strip and the West Bank maybe as early as tonight. What do you think should be done to defuse the tension there. The second question is, there are reports as well that certain forces of the Northern Alliance, are competing in order who gets first to Mazar-e-Sharif. How could you bank on the
support for such an alliance which is a wild card in regard to their track record. And the third main point, have you been co-ordinating the military campaign since it started with the United States, or has it just been the United States taking a leading role in this.
Prime Minister
First of all, the military campaign has obviously been co-ordinated very closely and I can say that the consultation and interaction we have with the United States has been excellent throughout. Secondly, working back through your questions, in relation to the Northern Alliance, we recognise ? I cannot comment on the particular reports in relation to Mazar-e-Sharif or anywhere else ? but in relation to the Northern Alliance, we recognise that any post-Taliban regime has to be broad-based. It has to include, obviously, the Pushtun element which is
important. So we recognised that right from the outset and it isn’t for us ? not for the United States, not for the UK, not for the West ? to start imposing a regime on the Afghan people, which is one of the reasons why the United Nations is involved, and as you know, Labrab (phon.) Brahimi, who is the UN representative that Kofi Annan has appointed, is talking and working with all the various groupings there in Afghanistan. And finally, I am obviously not privy to what has
happened at the Israeli Cabinet, it is important that those people who are responsible for the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister are brought to justice. I urge the Palestinian Authority to act on that and to do that. But it is vitally important that there is restraint on both sides and that is what we called for from the beginning. It is what we reiterate again today.
Question
Why did you say that you believe that the next few weeks will be the most testing time?
Prime Minister
Because we are in a situation now where we are taking the military action, where we are stepping up that action as necessary in order to achieve our objectives, where we are coping with the humanitariansituation in Afghanistan ? a crisis that well pre-dates, of course, the 11th September ? and because it is important, as we get under way with the military action that we answer the legitimate questions and concerns that people have. So this is always the testing time, if you like, but it is important that we hold firm. We have to see this through. We have to make sure, in the interests not just of our own countries but of world stability, that we close down these terrorist networks, that we strike a fundamental blow against those that are seeking to use methods of terror to gain ends they cannot gain by proper democratic means and that is a battle worth fighting, and we are fighting it.
Question
Prime Minister, in terms of addressing the underlying causes of terrorism and what you called injustices in the Middle East, are you considering a new way of dealing with Iraq?
Prime Minister
In relation to Iraq, we have been trying to get a new regime for sanctions in respect of Iraq for a long period of time because, again, we believe the Iraqi people are victims of Saddam Hussein. We believe that his regime has meant a huge weakening of the prosperity and security of people there, and we are anxious to get as much help through to people in Iraq, whilst not allowing Saddam Hussein to develop weapons of mass destruction, which he desires to do, and therefore threaten the stability of the entire region, given his record in invading Kuwait and trying to annexe it, so we have been trying to work on that. And that pre-dates 11 September. What I would again say to you, and this again
is a myth that is put out. Sometimes people say the Iraqi people are suffering, their children are suffering because food and medical supplies cannot get through to Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein has the express permission of the United Nations, under the existing regime, to get as much money for food and medical supplies as he needs from oil revenues. He could literally have billions of dollars flowing into those two areas if he wished to do so. He chooses not to do so, and it is important to realise that all the way through what we have been
trying to do is to give him the opportunity, if he was prepared to take it, to feed his people properly, to treat them medically, whilst not allowing him to use the billions of dollars of oil revenue as a means of acquiring chemical, biological and nuclear weapons of mass destruction, and we know perfectly well that he wants to do that. If he could do it, he would do it.
Question
You seem totally obsessed just with what bin Laden’s people are doing in Afghanistan, but there was a dreadful massacre of 40 Kurds in the safe haven of Northern Iraq by people affiliated to the Taliban, their throats cut, their heads chopped off. And yet nothing has been said about this.
Prime Minister
In one sense you are right. Those are disgusting and terrible acts of terrorism as well, but I think what that underscores is the need to go to the very centre of these operations, and the fact is the people that have then left Afghanistan, and effectively been exported as mechanisms of terror right round different parts of the world, have been trained and schooled in these mechanisms of terror in Afghanistan. So that is why it is important that we act there.
Question
Are you concerned at all that India doesn’t seem to have heeded your call for restraint on Kashmir, at least so far as what the Pakistanis say.
Prime Minister
Well, I believe that India does recognise the need for restraint. I think that it is important that we recognise too, however, the strong feelings that there are over the terrorist atrocity in Srinigar, where almost 40 innocent people died and again that shows the need to make sure that we try and resolve difference that there are, not through acts of violence or terrorism.
Question
Well, in effect you are not worried that they have actually launched attacks on Pakistani outposts in two sectors in Kashmir.
Prime Minister
Of course. When I was in India, and subsequently to that, I have said that I think it is important that there is restraint on all sides, but we are in close contact with the Indian Government, as we are with the Pakistani Government.
Question
Prime Minister, when people hear you warning of testing times in the next few weeks ahead, won’t they conclude that what you are saying is that British casualties could come soon and that this is going to get a difficult and more bloody war for our forces in the next few weeks?
Prime Minister
No, I’m not actually saying it in that context. I have nothing to say on that than what I have said before which is that of course if you undertake military action, there are risks for your own forces. We do our best to minimise that, and we are lucky in having armed forces of the professionalism, and commitment and dedication that we do. No, I say it because I think it is right, as the military action gets under way, that has now been under way for several days, that we are
constantly explaining to people why it is that we are acting, why it is necessary, how we are trying to make sure that the humanitarian difficulties are dealt with as well, and to give people some sense that the reasons why we are pursuing this conflict and doing this is because it is necessary for the stability and security, not just of our own country, but of the wider world. And we are not going to walk away at the end of this conflict, we are going to help the process of reconstruction then in Afghanistan so that the region, as a region, is more stable and secure in the future and again I believe that that can be done if we have the will to do it.
Question
Today there is a new report about anthrax made in the US. Is there a new organisation out there, a new threat perhaps to the security of the US, and maybe Britain, and what is your message to the people out there, including British citizens, about going to the US in terms of security, and what are the steps you are going to take about this revelation?
Prime Minister
There is no difficulty whatever in British citizens going to the US and I cannot really comment on the investigations into those cases of anthrax in the United States, at least at the present time. I think that it is important that we keep a sense of perspective, that we ensure that we distinguish between alarms and reality, but of course we must remain vigilant and of course what has happened in the United States is a worry which is why the United States authorities are focussing on it so much. But I think what this all brings us back to is how the world has changed since 11 September, changed in the sense that people are worried and insecure. People are concerned out there, and one of the reasons why it is so important that we take action against the terrorist networks is in order to re-establish the security and sense of order that people want. Now I believe that is possible to do, but it is difficult and one of the reasons why I hope very much, and this is the final thing I would say to you all, that we can keep in touch as you wish it, and we are able. We have regular such briefing sessions and question and answer sessions together is in order that we can communicate with people worldwide as to why we are doing this, why it is important and so that people distinguish between some of the myths that surround our actions and what I believe is the reality of our motives and our actions.
Thank you all very, very much indeed.
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