EXCERPTS FROM TONY BLAIR SPEECH

Excerpts from speech by Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Labor Party annual
conference Tuesday in Brighton, England:

Our way of life is a great deal stronger and will last a great deal longer
than the actions of fanatics, small in number and now facing a unified
world against them. People should have confidence.

This is a battle with only one outcome: our victory not theirs.

We know those responsible. In Afghanistan are scores of training camps for
the export of terror. Chief amongst the sponsors and organizers is Osama
Bin Laden. He is supported, shielded and given succor by the Taliban regime.

Two days before the 11 September attacks, (Ahmed Shah) Massood, the leader
of the opposition northern alliance, was assassinated by two suicide
bombers. Both were linked to bin Laden. Some may call that coincidence. I
call it payment -- payment in the currency these people deal in: blood.

Be in no doubt: Bin Laden and his people organized this atrocity. The
Taliban aid and abet him. He will not desist from further acts of terror.
They will not stop helping him.

Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are
far, far greater.

Look for a moment at the Taliban regime. It is undemocratic. That goes
without saying.

There is no sport allowed, or television or photography. No art or culture
is permitted. All other faiths, all other interpretations of Islam are
ruthlessly suppressed. Those who practice their faith are imprisoned.

Women are treated in a way almost too revolting to be credible. First
driven out of university; girls not allowed to go to school; no legal
rights; unable to go out of doors without a man. Those that disobey are stoned.

There is now no contact permitted with Western agencies, even those
delivering food. The people live in abject poverty.

It is a regime founded on fear and funded on the drug trade. The biggest
drugs hoard in the world is in Afghanistan, controlled by the Taliban.
Ninety percent of the heroin on British streets originates in Afghanistan.
The arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young
British people buying their drugs on British streets. That is another part
of their regime that we should seek to destroy.

So what do we do?

Don't overreact some say. We aren't.

We haven't lashed out. No missiles on the first night just for effect.

Don't kill innocent people. We are not the ones who waged war on the
innocent. We seek the guilty.

Look for a diplomatic solution. There is no diplomacy with bin Laden or the
Taliban regime.

State an ultimatum and get their response. We stated the ultimatum; they
haven't responded.

Understand the causes of terror. Yes, we should try, but let there be no
moral ambiguity about this: nothing could ever justify the events of 11
September, and it is to turn justice on its head to pretend it could.

The action we take will be proportionate; targeted; we will do all we
humanly can to avoid civilian casualties.

But understand what we are dealing with. Listen to the calls of those
passengers on the planes. Think of the children on them, told they were
going to die. Think of the cruelty beyond our comprehension as amongst the
screams and the anguish of the innocent, those hijackers drove at full
throttle planes laden with fuel into buildings where tens of thousands worked.

They have no moral inhibition on the slaughter of the innocent. If they
could have murdered not 7,000 but 70,000 does anyone doubt they would have
done so and rejoiced in it?

There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no
point of understanding with such terror. Just a choice: defeat it or be
defeated by it. And defeat it we must.

Any action taken will be against the terrorist network of bin Laden.

As for the Taliban, they can surrender the terrorists, or face the
consequences. And again, in any action the aim will be to eliminate their
military hardware, cut off their finances, disrupt their supplies, target
their troops, not civilians. We will put a trap around the regime.

I say to the Taliban: surrender the terrorists; or surrender power. It's
your choice.