[Memnoch]

Just some more news, from Britain's The Guardian. Interesting that Britain thinks they may have lost up to 300 people in this attack.


Blair: we are at war

Staff and agencies
Sunday September 16, 2001

Tony Blair today said Britain was at war with terrorism and pledged to play a full part in strikes against those responsible for Tuesday's deadly attacks in the US.
Speaking from Downing Street, the prime minister said: "Whatever the technical or legal issues about a declaration of war, the fact is we are at war with terrorism. What happened on Tuesday was an attack not just on the United States, but an attack on the civilised world."

Mr Blair said it was imperative that the international community acted against those who launched the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on Tuesday.

"However difficult it is, and however much we regret the fact that we have to take this action... nonetheless we have to do so," he said.

Mr Blair he confirmed the British death toll would be the highest in any terrorist attack, warning: "Probably 200-300 people from Britain will have died in that terrorist attack. That makes it the worst terrorist attack there has been on British citizens since the second world war."

Mr Blair said there would be two components to action taken by America and its allies in response to the attacks that killed up to 5,000 people.

The first would to bring to account those responsible, and then a "systematic war on the whole machinery of terrorism".

Promising cross-party support for America, the new Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, said there should not be "a glimmer of light" between Britain and the US. "It's critical we show the rest of the world that we won't be parted from them [the US], we won't allow a glimmer of daylight between us. That's the leadership role the prime minister must play," Mr Duncan Smith said.

But sounding a note of caution, the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, argued that support for America did not mean a "blank cheque" for any kind of military action.

Mr Kennedy said: "President Bush...has not responded in an instinctive, knee-jerk way and I think people like Colin Powell and so on, who are vastly experienced, are people that we look to with some trust and with some confidence, but that doesn't mean a blank cheque."

He added: "We have got to have a measured response, when that response comes, I think we have got to be clear 'who is it?' and 'where is it?' needs to be the focus of any military response that takes place and that we need to continue to question, in the democratic sense, all the decisions that are arrived at without compromising national or international security."

But religious leaders in Britain today urged America to exercise restraint in responding to the attacks.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and Dr Jonathan Sacks, Britain's chief rabbi, urged the US to seek "wise counsel" and to act with "precision".

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "I think how that justice is brought about is the key question.

"It is easy to say this, but never was there a time over the past many, many years when wise counsel is needed and I think that here in Britain we are in a good position .. to give wise counsel as a very close ally of the United States."

A Mori poll for the News of the World found that 74% would back an attack on those responsible, and 69% would support a strike against countries thought to harbour those responsible.

But when asked if they would support action which might involve hurting or killing innocent civilians only 43% said they would back such strikes, compared with 46% who would be against them.

There was also strong support for the way Mr Blair and Mr Bush were handling the crisis.

Meanwhile, more than 20,000 Britons have contacted helplines desperate to trace missing friends and relatives in America.

Scotland Yard's helpline, established shortly after Tuesday's atrocities, has been besieged by anxious friends and family.

Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, said the bereaved would be helped in this country by family liaison officers - trained police officers - assigned to individual households.

In New York, a reception centre staffed by 50 people is also being set up by the British consulate to offer help to relatives living in the US.

Lack of money would not be an object for people who needed to travel to America to deal with bereavement, she confirmed.

"We will help with flights out, help will be provided with practical arrangements," she said. "The whole aim of this is to try to relieve those families of the kind of practical organisation which is a further source of stress at an unbearable time like this. What we want to ensure is that lack of money to go is no obstacle for families who want to get out there."



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