Terrorist atrocities

What should we do in the aftermath of the terrorist atrocities in America?

Mourning for the victims, tendering the injured and supporting bereaved families and friends are the first priorities. Followed closely by a return to life near-to-normal, as the best way to show our defiance.

But the next issues are more challenging: how should we now seek justice? How should the events of 11th September 2001 change the foreign and security policies of America, the UK and the wider international community?

Writing this just two days after those appalling events, I cannot help wondering if these questions will already have been answered before you read this.

But I hope they have not.

Some people have been arguing for quick and immediate retaliation. Perhaps because they think that will somehow make us all feel better. However, I cannot see how such a strategy makes sense.

I strongly believe we must hunt down and punish these murderers. Yet finding the guilty may take time.

I strongly believe we need to increase massively our efforts to fight terrorism. But strategic policy changes, requiring many countries to co-operate, must be well thought through.

This is a time for massive international co-operation, to help the Americans in the world’s largest ever criminal investigation. It is a time for careful analysis and consideration. It has been said by many others, but it is true: we need calm, cool heads.

The threat from terrorism to our way of life is not new. But it has just become even more terrible. To defeat it, democratic nations will have to work with others in the less democratic and even undemocratic world, including Governments and peoples of Russia, China and the Arab nations. This was an affront to democracy. It was also an affront to human kind.