Mad, is this true?
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| Blair: 'we must be prepared for battle casualties' |
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Tony Blair says Britain must be prepared for casualties among its armed forces as part of the war against terrorism.
In an interview with the Observer newspaper he says the military action against Afghanistan's Taliban rulers is justified He says he can see no alternative if Osama bin Laden's terrorism is to be defeated. The Prime Minister commented: "If you take military action there are always risks. We obviously do everything we can to limit the possibility of casualties among men and women when we send them into action. "(But) You have to decide what you believe is right and recognise it is a very heavy responsibility. You don't do it if there's an alternative. But, right from the very beginning, I've not understood what the alternative can be." Mr Blair goes on to say that the US, Britain and the other allies are doing their best to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He talks of creating a "security bridge", a period of ceasefire that will allow negotiations to start between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He said: "You need to construct at least the right platform of security so that people feel they're not seeing funerals on their television screens, heightening the tension and anger and bitterness, then the violence." Mr Blair is anxious to play down the prospects of military action against Saddam Hussein's Iraq - something being proposed by many security ' in the US. He said: "The first phase is the action in Afghanistan against the perpetrators of the 11 September outrage. That is action we've discussed, considered, deliberated upon and taken." Story filed: 04:42 Sunday 14th October 2001 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_423189.html?menu=news.latestheadlines |