Bush vows to defeat terror threat (Bush Speech historic and Excellent. UN is on notice)

He told the audience at London's Banqueting House that the danger of terrorists using weapons of mass destruction aided by dictators represented "the greatest threat of our age".

"Great responsibilities have fallen once again to the great democracies. We will face these threats with open eyes and we will defeat them."

President Bush said a global response was needed to such threats, along with a recognition that "in some cases the measured use of force is all that protect us from a chaotic world ruled by force".

"The dictator had been given many chances to account for his weapons programmes. Now the resolutions he defied had been enforced.

"Who will say that Iraq was better off when Saddam Hussein was strutting and killing, or that the world was safer when he held power?"

Defending the war in Iraq, Mr Bush said the UK and US shared "a mission in the world beyond the balance of power or the simple pursuit of interest".

"Together, our nations are standing and sacrificing for this high goal in a distant land at this very hour."

And he said the UK and the US enjoyed a "very strong" relationship based on "an alliance of values".

He vowed that the coalition would not turn away from Iraq in the face of threats from "thugs".

He also reaffirmed his pledge to work towards a viable Palestinian state amid security for Israel.

Mr Bush was earlier welcomed by the Queen at a ceremony full of pageantry at Buckingham Palace.

The president's visit comes amid unprecedented security due to anti-war protests and increased terror fears.

Despite the intense policing the visit began amid claims the Mirror newspaper had exposed a breach in security.

The claims have prompted a Buckingham Palace investigation and Home Secretary David Blunkett has made a statement to MPs about the incident.

The Mirror newspaper claimed one of its reporters got a job as a footman in the palace using fake references and was set to serve the president's staff breakfast.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Tony Blair stressed the importance of Britain's relationship with the US.

Conservative leader Michael Howard paid tribute to Mr Blair's close relationship with Mr Bush.

The Stop the War Coalition predicts that 100,000 people will take to the streets on Thursday for the main protest against Mr Bush's visit.

The formal welcome for Mr Bush and his wife Laura from the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh came after a 41-gun salute.

They were driven the short distance from the Belgian suite, where they are staying, to be met by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Mr Blair and other dignitaries.

After the American national anthem was played they inspected the guard, before the Queen gave the president a private viewing of the Royal Collection of art.

As the president set out his defence of the war, peace campaigners are attempting to demonstrate their opposition in a series of protests across the capital.

Parliament Square, the South Bank and the Exxon-Mobil headquarters are among the locations earmarked for demonstrations.

A "roaming" Street Party and a Resist Bush Tea Party are also planned, while London Mayor Ken Livingstone has organised a peace party in City Hall for groups opposed to the war in Iraq.

Mr Bush is due to meet British families of those who died in the 11 September attacks in New York, although a trip to the memorial gardens at the US Embassy was cancelled due to security concerns.

The president is also due to meet Mr Howard, who supported the war, and the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, who opposed it.

In the evening, Mr and Mrs Bush will be guests of honour at a state banquet at the Palace.

Scotland Yard has put in place a £5m operation which will see over 5,000 police on the capital's streets.

Police agreed the mass protest on Thursday could march up Whitehall after receiving reassurances from organisers that it would be peaceful.

The media may have closed its eyes, but our government knew.

Soon after the Second World War ended, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. would recall what he called "those terrible eighteen months" in Washington, when "the Nazis were planning to exterminate all the Jews of Europe." He went on to write, "officials dodged their grim responsibility, procrastinated when concrete rescue schemes were placed before them, and even suppressed information about atrocities." The terrible 18 months Morgenthau was referring to was the period between the summer of 1942, when the State Department first heard of Hitler's plan to murder Europe's Jews, and January of 1944, when President Roosevelt set up the War Refugee Board, an institution that ultimately saved as many as 200,000 Jewish lives. Although, as secretary of the treasury, Morgenthau had few official opportunities to deal with the rescue efforts, a series of events starting in mid-1943 meant that Morgenthau and his staff at the Treasury played a key role in Roosevelt's decision to set up an agency independent of the State Department that would be charged with rescuing Europe's Jews.

Morgenthau was one of the few Jews surrounding the President, and was perhaps the most concerned by the plight of Germany's Jews. At the end of 1938, realizing that Congress was becoming increasingly unyielding on the number of immigrants who could enter the country, he went to the President with a different suggestion. He proposed that the United States acquire British and French Guiana and in return cancel whatever Britain and France still owed the United States on loans from World War I. According to Morgenthau's diary, Roosevelt was not impressed. "It's no good," the President reportedly said. "It would take the Jews five to 50 years to overcome the fever."

Nonetheless Morgenthau continued to bring news of rescue plans to the President's attention. On February 13, 1943, a "New York Times" article offered the Jews of Rumania some hope. It reported that the Rumanian government was prepared to ship the 70,000 Rumanian Jews in Transnistria to a safe haven chosen by the allies. In return, the Rumanians wanted approximately $130 per refugee to cover expenses. Morgenthau immediately pointed the story out to the President, who suggested that Morgenthau ask the State Department to look into the matter. Nothing ever came of the plan.

Later in the year, Morgenthau became much more involved in the rescue issue. The sequence of events began in April of 1943, when Gerhart Riegner, the representative of the World Jewish Congress in Geneva, sent a message to the U.S. with yet another rescue proposal. According to Riegner, if American Jewish organizations made funds available, supplies could be sent to the Jews of Transnistria. Additionally, Jewish children in the region could be moved to Palestine. And in France funds were needed to support hidden Jewish children and to finance escapes of Jews to Spain.

It was the Treasury Department's responsibility to issue the licenses required to send funds overseas. The State Department, however, didn't inform Morgenthau's staffers about Riegner's plan until late June. Once aware of what was involved, the Treasury Department rapidly approved the license. But because of further State Department delays and the procrastination of the U.S. delegation in Bern, the license was not transmitted to Riegner until late December. This was eight months after Riegner had first proposed his plan. In struggling against State Department obstructionism, the Treasury Department discovered that the State Department had at one point actually instructed the U.S. delegation in Bern to block more information about the Holocaust from reaching the U.S. Treasury Department, and staffers were so incensed by this callous indifference, they presented Morgenthau with a searing, 18-page critique of the Administration's failure to help the Jews of Europe. They entitled it "Report to the Secretary on the Acquiescence of This Government in the Murder of the Jews." Morgenthau was also aware of political pressure mounting on Capitol Hill for an independent rescue agency. Cognizant of the possible political scandal if Roosevelt didn't seize the initiative, he urged FDR to set up an organization to deal with the refugee crisis. The President responded immediately, issuing an executive order on January 22, 1944 that established the War Refugee Board (WRB).

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