BBC Monday, 8 October, 2001, 17:48 GMT 18:48 UK Blair attacks Taleban 'lie machine' Blair says action was needed to safeguard peace

Prime minister Tony Blair has told MPs that the action against terrorism and the Taleban was necessary to defend Britain and "our way of life".

Mr Blair spoke at the start of a six-hour emergency session of the House of Commons on Monday evening as Parliament was recalled for third time since the US terror attacks.

The prime minister confirmed that second wave of strikes on targets in Afghanistan had begun late on Monday afternoon and said initial indications of Sunday's action were that they had proved successful.

And he warned against the propaganda being put out by the "lie machine" of Afghanistan's ruling Taleban, which was falsely trying to present America, the UK and their allies as "anti-Islam".

The prime minister told MPs: "That is a lie. Let us expose it once and for all."

He said Muslims across the world had been appalled by the attacks on America and pledged to do all that was possible to limit the effect of the new military strikes on the people of Afghanistan.

'No walking away'

The coalition would not "walk away" after the conflict but would work to see a broad-based, multi-ethnic government in Afghanistan, said Mr Blair, who stressed the importance of getting humanitarian aid to the country.

Stressing that the UK was in the campaign for the "long haul", Mr Blair continued: "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."

He said the campaign against terrorism intimately affected UK interests - the country could be a target of terrorists who also wanted to hit economic confidence.

Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith gave his full backing to the action and added his view that the quarrel was not one with Islam, but with Osama Bin Laden's "suicidal cult".

Mr Duncan Smith said his "thoughts and prayers" were with the servicemen and women and their families.

He backed action, adding that although it might take "weeks, months or year", it was a battle which would be won.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was also supportive of the action, but cautioned that military strikes should remain "specific and targeted" and said that unlike the terrorists the US and UK led forces would show mercy.

There have been some voices of dissent ahead of the debate. Margaret Wright, principal speaker for the Green Party, said: "This kind of heavy-handed response will now probably trigger further terrorist attacks in the West.

"The mere threat of war provoked a refugee crisis. Now that bombing has begun, the humanitarian crisis will get worse."

And while the most MPs have backed Mr Blair's stance in the crisis so far, he may face criticism from some backbenchers.

Earlier on Monday, the longest serving MP in the House of Commons, Tam Dalyell, said: "I would have wished that military action should have been postponed until the spring, because it would have given time for the West to have examined the perpetrators of this crime on September 11."

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001