Mr Speaker, I am grateful that you agreed to the recall of
Parliament to debate the hideous and foul events in New
York, Washington and Pennsylvania that took place on Tuesday
11 September.
I thought it particularly important in view of the fact that
these attacks were not just attacks upon people and
buildings; nor even merely upon the USA; these were attacks
on the basic democratic values in which we all believe so
passionately and on the civilised world. It is therefore
right that Parliament, the fount of our own democracy, makes
its democratic voice heard.
There will be different shades of opinion heard today. That
again is as it should be.
But let us unite in agreeing this: what happened in the
United States on Tuesday was an act of wickedness for which
there can never be justification. Whatever the cause,
whatever the perversion of religious feeling, whatever the
political belief, to inflict such terror on the world; to
take the lives of so many innocent and defenceless men,
women, and children, can never ever be justified.
Let us unite too, with the vast majority of decent people
throughout the world, in sending our condolences to the
government and the people of America. They are our friends
and allies. We the British are a people that stand by our
friends in time of need, trial and tragedy, and we do so
without hesitation now.
The events are now sickeningly familiar to us. Starting at
08.45 US time, two hijacked planes were flown straight into
the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
Shortly afterwards at 09.43, another hijacked plane was
flown into the Pentagon in Washington.
At 10.05 the first tower collapsed; at 10.28 the second;
later another building at the World Trade Center. The heart
of New York’s financial district was devastated, carnage,
death and injury everywhere.
Around 10.30 we heard reports that a fourth hijacked
aircraft had crashed south of Pittsburgh.
I would like on behalf of the British people to express our
admiration for the selfless bravery of the New York and
American emergency services, many of whom lost their lives.
As we speak, the total death toll is still unclear, but it
amounts to several thousands.
Because the World Trade Center was the home of many big
financial firms, and because many of their employees are
British, whoever committed these acts of terrorism will have
murdered at least a hundred British citizens, maybe many
more. Murder of British people in New York is no different
in nature from their murder in the heart of Britain itself.
In the most direct sense, therefore, we have not just an
interest but an obligation to bring those responsible to
account.
To underline the scale of the loss we are talking about we
can think back to some of the appalling tragedies this House
has spoken of in the recent past. We can recall the grief
aroused by the tragedy at Lockerbie, in which 270 people
were killed, 44 of them British. In Omagh, the last
terrorist incident to lead to a recall of Parliament, 29
people lost their lives. Each life lost a tragedy. Each one
of these events a nightmare for our country. But the death
toll we are confronting here is of a different order.
In the Falklands War 255 British Service men perished.
During the Gulf War we lost 47.
In this case, we are talking here about a tragedy of epoch
making proportions.
And as the scale of this calamity becomes clearer, I fear
that there will be many a community in our country where
heart-broken families are grieving the loss of a loved one.
I have asked the Secretary of State to ensure that
everything they need by way of practical support for them is
being done.
Here in Britain, we have instituted certain precautionary
measures of security. We have tightened security measures at
all British airports, and ensured that no plane can take off
unless their security is assured. We have temporarily
redirected air traffic so that planes do not fly over
central London. City Airport is reopening this morning.
We have also been conscious of the possibility of economic
disruption. Some sectors like the airlines and insurance
industry will be badly affected. But financial markets have
quickly stabilised. The oil producers have helped keep the
oil price steady. Business is proceeding as far as possible,
as normal.
There are three things we must now take forward urgently.
First, we must bring to justice those responsible. Rightly,
President Bush and the US Government have proceeded with
care. They did not lash out. They did not strike first and
think afterwards. Their very deliberation is a measure of
the seriousness of their intent.
They, together with allies, will want to identify, with
care, those responsible. This is a judgement that must and
will be based on hard evidence.
Once that judgement is made, the appropriate action can be
taken. It will be determined, it will take time, it will
continue over time until this menace is properly dealt with
and its machinery of terror destroyed.
But one thing should be very clear. By their acts, these
terrorists and those behind them have made themselves the
enemies of the civilised world.
The objective will be to bring to account those who have
organised, aided, abetted and incited this act of infamy;
and those that harbour or help them have a choice: either to
cease their protection of our enemies; or be treated as an
enemy themselves.
Secondly, this is a moment when every difference between
nations, every divergence of interest, every irritant in our
relations, are put to one side in one common endeavour. The
world should stand together against this outrage.
NATO has already, for the first time since it was founded in
1949, invoked Article 5 and determined that this attack in
America will be considered as an attack against the Alliance
as a whole.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday passed a resolution
which set out its readiness to take all necessary steps to
combat terrorism.
From Russia, China, the EU, from Arab states, from Asia and
the Americas, from every continent of the world has come
united condemnation. This solidarity should be maintained
and translated into support for action.
We do not yet know the exact origin of this evil. But, if,
as appears likely, it is so-called Islamic fundamentalists,
we know they do not speak or act for the vast majority of
decent law-abiding Muslims throughout the world. I say to
our Arab and Muslim friends: neither you nor Islam is
responsible for this; on the contrary, we know you share our
shock at this terrorism; and we ask you as friends to make
common cause with us in defeating this barbarism that is
totally foreign to the true spirit and teachings of Islam.
And I would add that, now more than ever, we have reason not
to let the Middle East Peace Process slip still further but
if at all possible to reinvigorate it and move it forward.
Thirdly, whatever the nature of the immediate response to
these terrible events in
America, we need to re-think dramatically the scale and
nature of the action the world takes to combat terrorism.
We know a good deal about many of these terror groups. But
as a world we have not been effective at dealing with them.
And of course it is difficult. We are democratic. They are
not. We have respect for human life. They do not. We hold
essentially liberal values. They do not. As we look into
these issues it is important that we never lose sight of our
basic values. But we have to understand the nature of the
enemy and act accordingly.
Civil liberties are a vital part of our country, and of our
world. But the most basic liberty of all is the right of the
ordinary citizen to go about their business free from fear
or terror. That liberty has been denied, in the cruellest
way imaginable, to the passengers aboard the hijacked
planes, to those who perished in the trade towers and the
Pentagon, to the hundreds of rescue workers killed as they
tried to help.
So we need to look once more: nationally and internationally
at extradition laws, and the mechanisms for international
justice; at how these terrorist groups are financed and
their money laundered: and the links between terror and
crime and we need to frame a response that will work, and
hold internationally.
For this form of terror knows no mercy; no pity, and it
knows no boundaries.
And let us make this reflection. A week ago, anyone
suggesting terrorists would kill thousands of innocent
people in downtown New York would have been dismissed as
alarmist. It happened. We know that these groups are
fanatics, capable of killing without discrimination. The
limits on the numbers they kill and their methods of killing
are not governed by morality. The limits are only practical
or technical. We know, that they would, if they could, go
further and use chemical or biological or even nuclear
weapons of mass destruction. We know, also, that there are
groups or people, occasionally states, who trade the
technology and capability for such weapons.
It is time this trade was exposed, disrupted, and stamped
out. We have been warned by the events of 11 September. We
should act on the warning.
So there is a great deal to do and many details to be filled
in, much careful work to be undertaken over the coming days,
weeks and months.
We need to mourn the dead; and then act to protect the
living.
Terrorism has taken on a new and frightening aspect.
The people perpetrating it wear the ultimate badge of the
fanatic: they are prepared to commit suicide in pursuit of
their beliefs.
Our beliefs are the very opposite of the fanatics. We
believe in reason, democracy and tolerance.
These beliefs are the foundation of our civilised world.
They are enduring, they have served us well and as history
has shown we have been prepared to fight, when necessary to
defend them. But the fanatics should know: we hold these
beliefs every bit as strongly as they hold theirs.
Now is the time to show it.
