HANSARD) in the first session of the fifty-third parliament of the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland commencing on the thirteenth day of june in the fiftieth year of the reign of
HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II
FIFTH SERIES
VOLUME DCXXVII SECOND VOLUME OF SESSION 2001--02 House of Lords
Friday, 14th September 2001.
The House met at half-past nine of the clock, pursuant to Standing Order 16: The LORD CHANCELLOR on the Woolsack.
Prayers--Read by the Lord Bishop of Chelmsford.
Business
The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): My Lords, for the first item of business this morning, I shall repeat a Statement being made by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister in another place. Following the Statement, my right honourable friend Lady Symons of Vernham Dean will open the debate on international terrorism.
At 11 o'clock, we shall join the European-wide day of mourning by observing three minutes' silence. When we reach that hour, the debate will be under way. If it is agreeable to the House, at that time I shall rise and ask the noble Lord who is speaking to pause. I suggest that we stand for the duration of the silence. I have asked the Doorkeepers to prevent anyone from moving in and out of the Chamber during that period. I shall indicate the end of the three-minute silence by sitting down and we shall then continue with the debate.
I know that many noble Lords have put down their names to speak in the debate. Equally, however, I recognise that the usual margin of opportunity has not been available for all those who wish to contribute. Given the extraordinary circumstances, I hope that your Lordships will agree that any noble Lord who has not been able to indicate his wish to speak should be able to do so in the gap. Furthermore, speeches will not be limited to the conventional time for speaking in the gap, but rather noble Lords should be given the
opportunity to express their views in full. I ask only that, should any noble Lord wish to speak in the gap, the Clerk at the Table should be notified in advance.The Lord Chancellor will be attending the memorial service being held this morning at St Paul's Cathedral. He will represent us all: the Government, the judiciary and the rule of law. Personally, I think that it is more appropriate that I remain here and I am sure that other party leaders have reached the same conclusion.
US Terrorist Attacks
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat the Statement to which I referred earlier. The Statement is as follows:
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"Mr Speaker, I am grateful that you agreed to the recall of Parliament to debate the hideous and foul events in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that took place on Tuesday, 11th September.
"I thought it particularly important in view of the fact that these attacks were not just attacks upon people and buildings, nor even merely upon the United States of America; these were attacks on the basic democratic values in which we all believe so passionately and on the civilised world. It is therefore right that Parliament, the fount of our own democracy, makes its democratic voice heard.
"There will be different shades of opinion heard today. That, again, is as it should be, but let us unite in agreeing this: what happened in the United States on Tuesday was an act of wickedness for which there can never be justification. Whatever the cause, whatever the perversion of religious feeling, whatever the political belief, to inflict such terror on the world, to take the lives of so many innocent and defenceless men, women and children can never be justified.
"Let us unite too with the vast majority of decent people throughout the world in sending our condolences to the government and the people of America. They are our friends and allies. We the
- British are a people who stand by our friends in time of need, trial and tragedy and we do so without hesitation now.
"The events are now sickeningly familiar to us. Starting at 8.45 a.m. United States time, two hijacked planes were flown straight into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. Shortly afterwards, at 9.43, another hijacked plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington. At 10.05, the first tower collapsed; at 10.28, the second; later, another building at the World Trade Centre. The heart of New York's financial district was devastated: carnage, death and injury everywhere. At around 10.30, we heard reports that a fourth hijacked aircraft had crashed south of Pittsburgh.
"I should like, on behalf of the British people, to express our admiration for the selfless bravery of the New York and American emergency services, many of whom lost their lives.
"As we speak, the total death toll is still unclear, but it amounts to several thousands. Because the World Trade Centre was the home of many big financial firms, and because many of their employees are British, whoever committed these acts of terrorism will have murdered at least 100 British citizens, maybe many more. Murder of British people in New York is no different in nature from their murder in the heart of Britain itself. In the most direct sense, therefore, we have not just an interest, but an obligation to bring those responsible to account.
"To underline the scale of the loss that we are talking about, we can think back to some of the appalling tragedies that this House has spoken of in the recent past. We recall the grief aroused by the tragedy at Lockerbie, in which 270 people were killed, 44 of them British. In Omagh, the last terrorist incident to lead to a recall of Parliament, 29 people lost their lives. Each life lost was a tragedy. Each one of those events was a nightmare for our country. But the death toll that we are confronting here is of a different order. In the Falklands War, 255 British servicemen perished. During the Gulf War, we lost 47. In this case, we are talking about a tragedy of epoch-making proportions.
"As the scale of this calamity becomes clearer, I fear that there will be many a community in our country where heart-broken families are grieving the loss of a loved one. I have asked the Secretary of State to ensure that everything that they need by way of practical support is being done.
"Here, in Britain, we have instituted certain precautionary measures of security. We have tightened security measures at all British airports and ensured that no plane can take off unless its security is assured. We have redirected air traffic temporarily so that planes do not fly over central London. City Airport is reopening this morning.
"We have also been conscious of the possibility of economic disruption. Some sectors, such as the airlines and insurance industry, will be badly
- affected. But financial markets have stabilised quickly. The oil producers have helped to keep the oil price steady. Business is proceeding, as far as possible, as normal.
"There are three things that we must now take forward urgently. First, we must bring to justice those responsible. Rightly, President Bush and the United States Government have proceeded with care. They did not lash out; they did not strike first and think afterwards. Their very deliberation is a measure of the seriousness of their intent. They, together with allies, will want to identify with care those responsible. This is a judgment that must and will be based on hard evidence.
"Once that judgment is made, the appropriate action can be taken. It will be determined; it will take time; and it will continue over time until this menace is dealt with properly and the machinery of terror destroyed. But one thing should be very clear. By their acts, these terrorists and those behind them have made themselves the enemies of the civilised world. The objective will be to bring to account those who have organised, aided, abetted and incited this act of infamy. Those who harbour or help them have a choice: either to cease their protection of our enemies or to be treated as an enemy themselves.
"Secondly, this is a moment when every difference between nations, every divergence of interest and every irritant in our relations are put to one side in one common endeavour. The world should stand together against this outrage. NATO has already, for the first time since it was founded in 1949, invoked Article 5 and determined that this attack in America will be considered an attack against the alliance as a whole. The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday passed a resolution which set out its readiness to take all necessary steps to combat terrorism. From Russia, China and the EU, from Arab states, Asia and the Americas, and from every continent of the world has come united condemnation. This solidarity should be maintained and translated into support for action.
"We do not yet know the exact origin of this evil. If, as appears likely, it is so-called Islamic fundamentalists, we know that they do not speak or act for the vast majority of decent, law-abiding Muslims throughout the world. I say to our Arab and Muslim friends: neither you nor Islam is responsible for this; on the contrary, we know that you share our shock at this terrorism. We ask you as friends to make common cause with us in defeating this barbarism that is totally foreign to the true spirit and teachings of Islam. I would add that, now more than ever, we have reason not to let the Middle East peace process slip still further but, if at all possible, to reinvigorate it and move it forward.
"Thirdly, whatever the nature of the immediate response to these terrible events in America, we need to rethink dramatically the scale and nature of the action that the world takes to combat terrorism.
"We know a good deal about many of these terror groups. But, as a world, we have not been effective at dealing with them. And, of course, it is difficult. We are democratic; they are not. We have respect for human life; they do not. We hold essentially liberal values; they do not. As we look into these issues, it is important that we never lose sight of our basic values. But we have to understand the nature of the enemy and act accordingly.
"Civil liberties are a vital part of our country and of our world. But the most basic liberty of all is the right of ordinary citizens to go about their business free from fear or terror. That liberty has been denied in the cruellest way imaginable to the passengers aboard the hijacked planes, to those who perished in the trade towers and the Pentagon, and to the hundreds of rescue workers killed as they tried to help.
"So we need to look once more nationally and internationally at extradition laws and the mechanisms for international justice. We need to look at how these terrorist groups are financed and their money laundered, and at the links between terror and crime. We need to frame a response that will work and will hold internationally. This form of terror knows no mercy and no pity, and it knows no boundaries.
"Let us make this reflection. A week ago, anyone who suggested that terrorists would kill thousands of innocent people in downtown New York would have been dismissed as alarmist. But it happened. We know that these groups are fanatical, capable of killing without discrimination. The limits on the numbers that they kill and their methods of killing are not governed by morality. The limits are only practical or technical. We know that they would, if they could, go further and use chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons of mass destruction. We know also that there are groups or people, occasionally states, who trade the technology and capability for such weapons. It is time that that trade was exposed, disrupted and stamped out. We have been warned by the events of 11th September. We should act on the warning.
"So there is a great deal to do and many details to be filled in. Much careful work must be undertaken over the coming days, weeks and months. We need to mourn the dead and then act to protect the living. Terrorism has taken on a new and frightening aspect. The people perpetrating it wear the ultimate badge of the fanatic. They are prepared to commit suicide in pursuit of their beliefs. Our beliefs are the very opposite of those of the fanatics. We believe in reason, democracy and tolerance.
"Those beliefs are the foundation of our civilised world. They are enduring; they have served us well. History has shown that we have been prepared to fight, when necessary, to defend them. But the fanatics should know that we hold those beliefs as strongly as they hold theirs. Now is the time to show it".
9.58 a.m.
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