Osama's death will not end terror: Straw

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 6. In what is seen as yet another sign of the confusion at the top, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw and the Defence Secretary, Mr. Geoff Hoon, have aired conflicting views on the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism.

While Mr. Straw has said that the killing or capturing of Osama bin Laden and the destruction of his Al-Qaeda network will not necessarily put an end to terrorist activities, Mr. Hoon insisted that the network would be so badly damaged that it would no longer be in a position to function. He declared that the allied forces in Afghanistan would ``roll up'' the Al-Qaeda network and ``cut off its head'', namely Bin Laden.

Observers were quick to point out that such ``contradictory'' statements from two senior Ministers, directly involved in the current campaign, sent out confusing signals about the aims of the war in Afghanistan. ``It is likely to be seized by the critics of the war to claim that they have been right in saying that bombing innocent people is not the right way to go about fighting terrorism,'' one commentator said.

Downing Street, however, denied any differences and Mr. Straw told correspondents that the military action in Afghanistan was only one phase of the fight against terrorism. His remarks about post-bin Laden terror came in an interview with The Times which said these reflected ``fears in Western intelligence organisations that bin Laden will have given orders for further attacks in the event of his being captured or killed in Afghanistan''.

Stating that terrorism could outlast bin Laden, Mr. Straw said: ``What we know from the way terrorist groups have operated in the past, even when they have been destroyed, is that those still at large may decide to carry out some further acts of terrorism,'' he said.

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Section  : International
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