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Straw Still On Board WOT
EFL The international community could have prevented September 11 and other terrorist attacks by acting far earlier against al-Qaâeda rather than "turning the other cheek", Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, admits today. In an interview with the Telegraph on the first anniversary of the Iraq war, Mr Straw says that despite the attack on Madrid which killed 202 people, the world is winning the war on terror. "What the international community should have done is to heed the earlier warnings about the nature of al-Qaâeda and taken earlier action to deal with it and the failing state which was harbouring it, which was Aghanistan," he says. "Because if we had have done we might have avoided September 11 and everything that has followed that." His message is that the war on terrorism, while left too late, is the only way to combat a "cholera of the mind" that has infected "maniac" fundamentalists and made the world more dangerous. His remarks contain implicit criticism of the former American administration led by President Bill Clinton, whose country was the main target for al-Qaâeda, and suggests that the war on terror should have been launched in the mid-Nineties. This guyâs Labour, right? Mr Straw says he understands British peopleâs heightened feelings of insecurity after the Madrid attacks and says he has often thought about the war on terror and the wisdom of attacking Saddam. But he has always concluded that both were right. The strategy of using force against Saddam is already paying off, he claims, citing the decision by Libya to destroy its weapons of mass destruction and progress in getting Iran to comply with internatonal demands over its weapons programme. "I have never said that the reason we have been able to secure compliance from Libya and Iran was because in any sense they felt militarily threatened by the coalition but the effect was more subtle but nonetheless powerful. They felt threatened by Saddam and removing Saddam took away a threat and also exposed them to diplomatic action. So when the history books come to be written and when people are able to stand back they will be able to see that the strategy has been rational and effective."
The Brits have what it takes. Canât wait to see how John Howard tops it. Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-03-20 |
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