terror - world leaders coming around....
World leaders vow tougher anti-terror drive From correspondents in Brussels November 21, 2003
WORLD leaders have vowed to intensify the fight against terrorism after the second spate of deadly bomb attacks in Istanbul within a week again allowed Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network to heighten anxieties across the globe.
"There must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can and in defeating it utterly," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
Leaders worldwide reacted in the same vein after truck bombs exploded near the London-based HSBC bank and the British consulate in Istanbul, killing at least 27 people, including British Consul-General Roger Short, and wounding some 450.
The attacks were blamed on the al-Qaeda terror network and came in the wake of the pair of synagogue bombings Saturday that killed 25 people in the Turkish city.
Several countries, from Britain to Switzerland, advised against travelling to Turkey, while Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said this morning Australia would be upgrading its travel warnings for the country.
Prime Minister John Howard said he was "stunned" by the devastation from the blasts, and also lashed out against anti-war protesters for not demonstrating against terrorism.
Speaking about the 100,000-strong anti-Bush demonstration in London, Mr Howard said: "(The protesters) have a right to do so, but I have a right to question why they don't pour their bile and energy of demonstration into an attack on those people who are responsible," he said this morning.
Standing side by side at a news conference, Mr Bush and Mr Blair were adamant they would stay in Iraq as long as necessary, defiant they would not be deterred by any terror attacks.
"No act of thugs or killers will change our resolve or alter their fate," Mr Bush said.
"Let me make it absolutely clear," added Mr Blair. "We stay (in Iraq) until the job gets done."
"What this latest terrorist outrage shows us is that this is a war, its main battleground is Iraq."
Germany's foreign spy chief said bin Laden continues to play an important role in mobilizing resurgent al-Qaeda activists, who have found a new rallying point in the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
"Now they are once again able to carry out attacks on a major scale," said August Hanning, head of the Federal Intelligence Service.
"We believe (bin Laden) still plays an important role in the background," he added. "He communicates with his supporters through his messages. He tries to mobilize them, and of course he uses the situation in Iraq."
Against such threats, the whole world rallied around Turkey yesterday.
"It is not just Israel, this is a danger to the entire free world," said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "This compels us to remember the need for the free world to fight the terror."
Israel's neighbors Jordan and Egypt also joined the global condemnation of the attacks.
"These terrorist attacks, and the ones which preceded them on the Jewish synagogues in Ankara, require increased international efforts to combat all forms of terrorism," Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who was visiting New York, said the Istanbul blasts sent a "terrible message within a few days" and said it was necessary to "dry out the breeding grounds for terrorism."
At the United Nations headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "those who carried out these attacks have no respect for human life and we should condemn utterly their actions."
The attacks against British targets coincided with the visit of US President George W. Bush to Britain.
"Great Britain, America and other free nations are united today in our grief and united in our determination to fight and defeat this evil wherever it is found," Mr Bush said.
Some saw a premeditated political pattern behind the attack, not just blind hatred.
"The synagogues the other day, the Brits today. It seems like someone is trying to tell the Turks that they should be punished for the support to Israel, for the support to the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said.
"Everybody can be hit, the Red Cross, the United Nations, the synagogues, the consulates are being hit," referring to attacks in Iraq as well as Turkey.
The NATO nations and Russia said in a statement after a meeting: "the terrorists who carry out these atrocities will not succeed in their efforts to sow fear and division among the international community."
