Straw confirms Bin Laden role

by Charles Reiss and Patrick Hennessy

The Government today launched a deliberate operation to build a platform for Britain to join the US in military action against the terrorist organisation of Osama bin Laden.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, breaking the rule that ministers do not talk about intelligence matters, declared that Britain now has independent evidence naming Bin Laden as "prime suspect" for last week's atrocities in the US.

"One thing is now clear," said Mr Straw, "and I say this is now clear not only from what has been said in the United States but from our own, separate intelligence assessment, and that is that Osama bin Laden and his organisation are plainly the prime suspects for this terrorist outrage.

"That assessment underlies the judgments we will be making in the days and weeks ahead."

Neither Mr Straw nor his officials would indicate when those judgments might be transformed into action. Nor would they give any detail as to the strength of the information from the intelligence services.

But Whitehall swiftly made clear that the message was that action, whenever it came, would be based, in the words of one source, on Britain's " independent and sovereign" assessment of a legitimate target. Tony Blair, meeting the Government's key diplomatic and military advisers today, was preparing for talks with a series of his fellow European leaders in the continuing effort to maintain the Western alliance in face of the crisis.

The Prime Minister was meeting his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi, for lunch today. On Wednesday he is scheduled to meet Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

The continued diplomatic offensive followed Mr Blair's strongest warning yet that the democracies of the world are now in a state of "war" against terrorists who attacked America.

"Are we at war with the people who have committed this terrible atrocity? Absolutely," the Prime Minister said. "We have to assemble the evidence, present it and then pursue those responsible."

It was the first time Mr Blair, who was speaking in Downing Street yesterday before taking his family to Westminster Cathedral, has spoken in terms of war. Later he said he believed support from Europe was solid and that "the whole of the civilised world will stand together".

President Jacques Chirac of France, who will visit Washington tomorrow for talks with President Bush, is expected to reinforce that message. But some, at home and abroad, struck a note of caution.

One Cabinet member, International Development Secretary Clare Short, said the fact that many innocent people had lost their lives in last Tuesday's attacks was "intolerable". But, raising the possibility of widespread attacks on Afghanistan or other terrorist havens, she went on: "It would be unbearable if the response was a lot more innocent people losing their lives and inflaming the atmosphere."

Mr Blair himself stressed that America and its allies would act in a calm, measured and sensible way - "but act we must".

The impact on this country, with between 200 and 300 Britons among the dead in last week's attacks, constituted "the worst terrorist attack there has been on British citizens since the Second World War," he said.

Mr Straw, meanwhile, announced aid for the relatives of the British victims. Two close relatives of each Briton killed will be flown to New York at government expense, and other help, including payment for accommodation, will also be available.

Mr Straw said the Government was "moving as fast as we can" to assist families of those involved. The Foreign Office is expected in the next day or two to release the first official list of Britons missing following last week's atrocities.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001