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Text of Blair's HoC's statement

"We are in this for the long haul," Blair told Parliament

LONDON, England -- This is the full text of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's address to the House of Commons on October 8.

"Mr Speaker, thank you for agreeing to the third recall of Parliament since September 11.

"At 5.30pm British Time yesterday a series of air and cruise missile attacks began on the terrorist camps of Osama bin Laden and the military installations of the Taliban regime.

"These were carried out by American and British armed forces with the support of other allies. There were 30 targets. Twenty three were outside the main cities. Three were in Kabul and four were in the vicinity of other large settlements. In all cases, the utmost care was taken to avoid civilian casualties.

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"British forces were engaged in this action through the use of submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles fired against terrorist training facilities.

"It is too early to report back fully on the effect of last night's action. However we can say that initial indications are that the coalition operations were successful in achieving their objective of destroying and degrading elements of the al Qaida terrorist facilities and the Taliban military apparatus that protects them.

"These operations will continue and I can tell the House that a second wave of attacks is now underway. In time, they will be supported by other actions, again carefully targeted on the military network of the enemy.

"We took almost four weeks after September 11 to act. I pay tribute to President Bush's statesmanship in having the patience to wait. This was for three reasons.

"First, we had to establish who was responsible. Once it was clear that the al Qaida network planned and perpetrated the attacks we then wanted to give the Taliban regime time to decide their own position: would they shield bin Laden or yield him up? It was only fair to give them an ultimatum and time to respond. It is now clear they have chosen to side with terrorism.

VIDEO British Prime Minister Tony Blair talks to reporters about the military campaign in Afghanistan. (October 7) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

"But thirdly, we wanted time to make sure that the targets for any action, minimised the possibility of civilian casualties.

"Our argument is not with the Afghan people. They are victims of the Taliban regime. They live in poverty, repressed viciously, women denied even the most basic human rights and subject to a crude form of theocratic dictatorship that is as cruel as it is arbitrary.

"We are doing all we can to limit the effect of our action on ordinary Afghans. I repeat: we will not walk away from them, once the conflict ends, as has happened in the past. We will stand by them and help them to a better, more stable future under a broad-based Government involving all the different ethnic groupings. That is our pledge to the people of Afghanistan.

"The strength of the coalition remains. In addition to Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Canada have all pledged military support. We should also remember the contribution Germany is already making, under Chancellor Schroeder, by taking over leadership of the Nato mission in Macedonia and thus freeing up other allied resources for use in Afghanistan.

"I spoke to Prime Minister Aznar of Spain last night. He pledged his full commitment and indicated his readiness to provide military support. We greatly value and welcome the Spanish support, as we do that of Italy. And of course Nato is giving its full support.

"Today the North Atlantic Council agreed the redeployment of five AWACs aircraft to free up US assets so that they can participate in this operation. We anticipate that Nato will shortly agree the redeployment of standing naval forces on the same basis.

"The EU is fully supportive. Russia has issued a strong statement calling for decisive action against the evil of terrorism. China has encouraged efforts to combat terrorism, calling for military strikes to be targeted at specific objectives. The Japanese prime minister has given his strong support.

"President Musharraf of Pakistan has described the military strikes as "an action against terrorists, terrorism and their sanctuaries and supporters." Pakistan is providing help in terms of intelligence, logistic support and air space.

"On Saturday, I met prime minister Vajpayee of India who assured me of the Indian government's robust support for efforts to combat international terrorism.

"In the Arab world there has been widespread condemnation of the 11 September atrocities and acceptance of the need to take action against the al-Qaida network.

"Of course, al-Qaida and the Taliban regime will be eager to spread false propaganda. Already, their lie machine is putting out false claims about U.S. planes being shot down. There will be much more of this kind of thing. And of course they lie about our motivation. We know their aim. It is to foment conflict between Islam and the west; it is to present themselves as champions of the Muslim world against the U.S.A. It is to say we are anti-Islam. This is a lie.

"Let us expose it once and for all. We are in conflict with Bin Laden and the Taliban regime because the terrorists killed thousands of innocent people, including hundreds of Muslims and women and children; and because the Taliban regime in return for financial and other support, give them succour.

"Forgive me for repeating this: but my visit to Pakistan convinced me these sentiments cannot be repeated too often. To kill in this way is utterly foreign to all teachings of the Koran. To justify it by saying such murder of the innocent is doing the will of God, is to defame the good name of Islam. That is why Muslims the world over have been appalled by this act.

"This was made clear to me once more at my meeting earlier today with leaders of all the religious faiths in Britain. And for those who doubted Bin Laden's wickedness, or his murderous intent, just listen to his television broadcast yesterday. He said: "God Almighty hit the U.S. at its most vulnerable spot. He destroyed its greatest buildings and filled the country with terror. Praise be to God." Sitting next to him, was Ayman al-Zawahiri [a-Zahiri], leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, involved themselves in Al Qaida's attacks on the U.S. Embassies in East Africa in 1998.

"I would also remind people of this. When hundreds of thousands of Muslims were subject to ethnic cleansing by the hated Milosevic regime in 1999 in Kosovo, we took military action in Serbia against Milosevic. We weren't acting then against Milosevic because Serbia is an Orthodox Christian country; or in favour of the Kosovars because many are Muslims. We acted against Milosevic because what he was doing -- the humanitarian catastrophe he was inflicting on them -- was unjust. We helped the Kosovars because they were victims of his injustice.

"It is justice too that makes our coalition as important on the humanitarian side as on the military. We have established an effective coalition to deal with the humanitarian crisis in the region, which of course existed before 11 September. Our priority has been to re-establish food supply routes into Afghanistan. Some 5,000 tonnes of food went in during the last fortnight, thanks to the efforts of the UN and other international agencies.

"At the U.N. meeting in Geneva over the weekend, donors pledged $600m including the UK's own commitment of $55m. We will do all we can to help refugees from the Taliban. All we ask them to do is not to stop that help getting through.

"We must safeguard our country too. Our first responsibility is the safety of the public. Since 11 September every one of our arrangements has been under scrutiny. We have extensive contingency planning in place in Britain. We are doing all we reasonably can to anticipate the nature of and thwart, any potential reprisal.

"As yet there is no specific credible threat that we know of against Britain, but we would be foolish to be anything other than highly vigilant, though as the experience of the U.S. shows it is not an easy task. Contacts between the UK, U.S. and other governments and agencies are good, and expertise and planning are being shared.

"I am aware of the anguish for the families of the aid workers held in Afghanistan, and of the journalist Yvonne Ridley. We hope that the report of her release are correct; but as yet have no official confirmation. We are in this for the long haul.

"Even when al-Qaida is dealt with, the job is not over. The network of international terrorism is not confined to it. It is essential therefore that we reflect why it is so necessary we stand with the U.S. and other allies in this fight.

"It is that this attack was an attack not on the West or the U.S. alone. It was an attack on civilised values everywhere. It was an attempt to change by terror what the terrorists knew they couldn't do by reasoned argument. It was an attempt to substitute terrorist atrocity for deliberative policy; to see the world run by the chaos consequent on terrorist outrage, rather than by disciplined and calm debate.

"We in Britain have the most direct interest in defeating such terror. It strikes at the heart of what we believe in. We know that if not stopped, the terrorists will do it again, this time possibly in Britain. We know that it was an attack on economic confidence, trying to destroy the strength of our economies and that eradicating this threat is crucial to global economic confidence. We know the Taliban regime is largely funded by the drugs trade, and that 90 percent of the heroin on British streets originates in Afghanistan. We know that the refugee crisis, four-and-a-half million on the move even before 11 September, directly impacts on us here.

"So this military action we are undertaking is not for a just cause alone, though this cause is just. It is to protect our country, our people, our economy, our way of life. It is not a struggle remote from our everyday concerns. It touches them intimately.

"We did not choose this conflict. We do not lightly go to fight. We are, all of us -- the nations involved in this action -- peaceful peoples who prefer to live in peace. But a desire to live in peace should never be interpreted as weakness by those who attack us. If attacked, we will respond; we will defend ourselves; and our very reluctance to use force means that when we do, we do so with complete determination that it shall prevail.

"That is why we were there last night in action, and why we will be there again, with our allies. It is why we will continue to act, with steadfast resolve, to see this struggle through to the end and to the victory that would mark the victory not of revenge but of justice over the evil of terrorism."