3.1 |
Development of UK strategy and options, 9/11 to early January
2002
45.
In his
statement following the attacks, Mr Blair stated that the
democracies of the
world must
come together to defeat and eradicate mass
terrorism.26
It
was:
“… not a
battle between the United States of America and terrorism, but
between
the free
and democratic world and terrorism. We, therefore, here in Britain
stand
shoulder to
shoulder with our American friends in this hour of tragedy, and
we,
like them,
will not rest until this evil is driven from our
world.”
46.
Describing the
events of 11 September 2001, Mr Alastair Campbell, Mr
Blair’s
Director of
Communications and Strategy, recorded that after the discussion in
the
Cabinet
Office Briefing Rooms (COBR), Mr Blair held a smaller meeting in
No.10 with Mr
Jack Straw,
the Foreign Secretary, and Mr Geoff Hoon, the Defence
Secretary.27
During
the meeting
Mr Blair asked them to work up “an international agenda which
went beyond
the US just
hitting Afghanistan”; and stated that he intended to advise
President Bush to
issue an
ultimatum to the Taliban to hand over Usama Bin Laden
(UBL).
47.
Mr Blair sent
a Note to President Bush on 12 September setting out three goals
to:
•
bring to
justice those responsible;
•
construct
an agenda for action against international terrorism;
and
•
co-opt the
world’s leading countries in support of action.28
48.
Mr Blair wrote
that action on the second and third goals should take place as
soon
as
possible.
49.
Action on the
first goal might include presenting the Taliban with a demand to
yield
Usama Bin
Laden and his associates and close their camps or “face guilt by
complicity”.
That would
have to be “decided on evidential and military
grounds”.
50.
In considering
the need for a political agenda, Mr Blair wrote:
“[A]fter
reflection, there will be many who ask: what is the next stage of
this evil?
What of
their capacity to get hold of biological, chemical and other WMD?
We know
that there
are countries and individuals trading in WMD and/or trying to
acquire
them. We
need a range of sanctions and pressures to stop this.
“Some of
this will require action that some will baulk at. But we are better
to act
now
and explain
and justify our actions than let the day be put off until some
further,
perhaps
even worse catastrophe occurs. And I believe this is a real
possibility.”
51.
Mr Blair
added: “It would also help in the Islamic world if we could find a
way to
revive the
Middle East Peace Process.”
26
The
National Archives, 11 September 2001, September
11 attacks: Prime Minister’s statement.
27
Campbell A
& Hagerty B. The
Alastair Campbell Diaries. Volume 4. The Burden of Power:
Countdown
to Iraq.
Hutchinson, 2012.
28
Note Blair
[to Bush], 12 September 2001, ‘Note for the
President’.
321