Rumsfeld slates UK bombers
2005-08-01 17:25
London - United States defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Monday the terrorists behind the London bombings had "failed", vowing that US-led forces would never give in to pressure to withdraw forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Writing about the London attacks in the Financial Times, he dismissed the idea that Britain had been a target because of its support for US-led military action on the two countries since the September 11 2001 bombings.
He said: "Some seem to believe that accommodating extremists' demands - including retreating from Afghanistan and Iraq - might put an end to their grievances, and, with them, future attacks."
"The extremists do not seek a negotiated settlement with the West. There is no 'separate peace' to be had with such an enemy."
Britain, Washington's main ally in the war unleashed in 2003 on Iraq, had been on high alert since the July 7 suicide bombings in London that killed 56, followed by a botched repetition of the attacks two weeks later.
Terrorist attacks in various countries
Rumsfeld appeared to dismiss the idea that London was made a target because of its backing for the US, listing terrorist attacks in various countries before and since 9/11, from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to last year's Madrid attacks.
He said: "They have struck back using everything from knapsacks to cars to kill hundreds of innocent people in places such as Spain, Turkey, Kenya, Indonesia and, now London.
"They failed on September 11. They are failing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"And, knowing what we know about the British people, in attacking London the extremists have no doubt failed again."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair had repeatedly denied that London was targeted because of its role in Iraq, despite opinion polls indicating that many Britons believed just that.
Rumsfeld said: "As they have in previous attacks, the extremists and their sympathisers will offer the usual empty justifications."
But, he vowed that they would be "hunted down on every continent by an unprecedented global coalition".
- AFP