Blair: terror war only just beginning

Tony Blair today delivered his most doom-laden warning yet of the "mortal danger" of terrorism - and his most sustained and personal defence of the war on Iraq.

In a landmark speech, he suggested the battle against global terrorism was only just beginning - and left the way open for renewed military action if that was required.

But he also demanded reform of the United Nations and of international law to allow the democracies of the world to act against rogue states and religious fanatics bent on "Armageddon".

The Prime Minister's speech, in his Sedgefield constituency, was measured in tone - but apocalyptic in its language.

The devastating attacks on America on 11 September 2001 were a "revelation", Mr Blair said. "What galvanised me was that it was a declaration of war by religious fanatics who were prepared to wage that war without limit.

"The purpose was to cause such hatred between Muslims and the West that a religious jihad became reality, and the world engulfed by it ... here were terrorists prepared to bring about Armageddon."

The attacks on the US, he said, also tipped the balance decisively in favour of action against Iraq, either through the UN or, if need be, by force.

"September 11 did not create the threat Saddam posed. But it altered crucially the balance of risk as to whether to deal with it or simply carry on, however imperfectly, trying to contain it."

Mr Blair reaffirmed his belief that the real threat of the 21st century was from terrorism, whether backed by rogue states or religious fanatics. "Here is where I feel so passionately that we are in mortal danger of mistaking the nature of the new world in which we live," he said.

"The best defence of our security lies in the spread of our values." But he also warned the threat must be tackled head-on.

"Containment will not work in the face of the global threat that confronts us. The terrorists have no intention of being contained. Emphatically, I am not saying that every situation leads to military action.

"But we surely have a duty and a right to prevent the threat materialising, and we surely have a responsibility to act when a nation's people are subjected to a regime such as Saddam's. Otherwise we are powerless to fight the aggression and injustice which, over time, puts at risk our own security and way of life."

Mr Blair defended the use of intelligence in deciding the threat from Iraq, while conceding it could rarely, if ever, produce a certain verdict.

He pointed to the decision to send troops to surround Heathrow shortly before the war, derided by some as a stunt but based, he insisted, on "specific intelligence" of a major terrorist attack.

The war against terror "is not ended", he said. "It may only be at the end of the first phase."

Turning on the UN, he voiced fears that if the organisation was "paralysed" by political divisions, as happened in the run-up to the war, the threat would go unchallenged-In a scathing aside, Mr Blair said the UN declaration on human rights was "a fine document" but "it is strange the UN is so reluctant to enforce the rights in it".

Britain along with its allies was locked into "a new type of war". "It will rest on intelligence to a greater degree than ever before. It demands a different attitude to our own interests. It forces us to act even when so many comforts seem unaffected and the threat so far off, if not illusory."

Mr Blair's warning of the continuing threat from terrorism drew support from Tory leader Michael Howard, who said: "I entirely agree with the Prime Minister."

However, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy took issue with Mr Blair's call for reform of the UN. He claimed: "It seems to me very like President Bush's analysis and verdict on the UN - do as I say."