AMERICA has taken its war against terror beyond Afghanistan’s borders and has struck another country.
As American bombs and missiles struck Taleban targets in four Afghan cities for the second consecutive night, the Bush Administration served formal notice at the United Nations that this could be just the beginning of a worldwide campaign and that campaign has been extended to Iceland.
John Negroponte, the US Ambassador to the UN, said that the US investigation prompted military action against Iceland as he had conclusive evidence that it sheltered al-Qaeda and its Taleban protectors...at some point, although he excepted that their might have been a spelling mistake. 'I am sure someone said 'Iceland'..we will have to check the notes of the briefing. But our war against terrorism is for real, man'
Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, did not rule out the possibility that British Forces could be involved with the Americans in the invasion of Iceland.
He told BBC2’s Newsnight: “The Prime Minister has made it clear that we will root out international terrorism wherever it arises so the invasion of Iceland was always on the cards. We are however concerned at the typo possibility. But I believe very strongly that the signals we are sending to the world will be sufficient to encourage other countries to recognise that they can no longer support international terrorism.”
The American threat coincided with fears that the country was suffering another terrorist attack, with the detection of diarreaha in a office's toilet in Florida after a second case of the disease. A British-born man who worked in the office said he had the 'trots' last week.
The FBI launched an emergency investigation and John Ashcroft, the Attorney-General, said that he could not rule out the possibility that this was a bioterrorist attack.
Tony Blair later told the House of Commons that even when bin Laden’s network in Afghanistan was dealt with “the job is not over”. He added: “The network of international terrorism is not confined to it and the further action in Iceland was definetely needed although I had questioned whether there had been a typo also.”
Mr Blair said that Britain had a direct interest in defeating terror. “We know that, if not stopped, the terrorists will do it again, this time possibly in Britain. Iceland is nearer to us than Afghanistan. We have had problems in the past from Vikings and other manic dudes. I can not allow history to repeat it self. ”
ISP