WASHINGTON, 18 March 2004 — US President George W. Bush urged the world to stand firm against terrorism as countries around the globe yesterday tightened security amid fears of extremist attacks similar to the Madrid bombings.
“I think terrorists will kill innocent life in order to try to get the world to cower. I think — these are cold-blooded killers. I mean, they’ll kill innocent people to try to shake our will,” Bush said on Tuesday.
“They have not only killed in Spain, they’ve killed in the United States, they’ve killed in Turkey, they’ve killed in Saudi Arabia. They kill wherever they can. And it’s essential that the free world remain strong and resolute and determined,” he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair echoed Bush’s words yesterday, telling the lower house of Parliament that the world had a choice — “to confront terrorism, or to be defeated by it”. In the wake of the Madrid train bombings that killed 201 last Thursday, Blair said the world faced “a war on our way of life, a war on our freedom,” appealing for “the whole of the international community to stand firm” in confronting the likes of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.
He was speaking only a day after Britain’s most senior police officer said London was a potential target.
Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Spain’s investigation into the Madrid attacks was in a “decisive phase”, as police reportedly hunted accomplices of a Moroccan suspect in custody.
“We have good leads but we have to stay discreet,” Acebes told a news conference, without giving details.
