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The conversation centers on the nature, aims, and future threat of Islamic militant terrorism and the states believed to support it. The interviewer asks why the United States was hit so savagely and what the terrorists’ objective is. The Prime Minister responds that the attacks are terrorist actions launched by Islamic militants who enjoy support from radical Middle Eastern states. He says militant Islam perverts and distorts one of the world’s great religions and seeks to reverse a thousand years of history in which Islam receded in the West and democracy became dominant. To undo this, he explains, they must strike at the main bastion of Western democracy—the United States—and will likely strike again to crush its will, not merely to damage it. He links this effort to inspiration from Islamic militant teachings and, specifically, from the Islamic Republic of Iran, stating that they view the United States as the “great Satan” and Israel as the “little Satan.” He adds that if Belgium were in the Middle East, it would also be a “little Satan,” underscoring the pattern of targeting the United States.
The Prime Minister emphasizes that the United States’ awakening is a wake-up call from hell, noting that these groups are continually improving their technical capabilities and that radical regimes–notably Iran and Iraq–are developing weapons of mass destruction. He warns that the next attack could involve millions dying, should Islamic militants acquire nuclear weapons, and asserts that if action is not taken to dismantle the terror network and the terrorist states behind it, the future of freedom and democracy is in doubt. He argues that the United States has the power today to crush them and must demonstrate the will to do so.
In responding to a question from five years earlier about the potential for a nuclear or Armageddon-like attack, the Prime Minister asserts that terrorists already used a 350-ton conventional bomb and that this network operates through states and territories. He argues that no group acts without states, and that the terrorists require places to be launched from and coordinated. He identifies a network including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, certain Arab states, and Arafat’s Palestinian domain, describing Arafat’s camps in Gaza where Hamas and Islamic Jihad allegedly train children to become suicide bombers, preparing “the kamikaze pilots” of today and tomorrow. He contends that the network has the capacity to develop atomic weapons and already possesses ballistic missiles and chemical/biological capabilities, bringing the history of conflict into a new era driven by Islamic militancy allied with Arab terrorist groups seeking to destroy the West.
The Prime Minister concludes that terrorism is an indivisible evil and that success by terrorists in one region emboldens others, requiring a unified, determined response—akin to historical coalitions against piracy or Nazism. He endorses President Bush’s call for a global war of democracies against terrorism, asserting that this is necessary for the future of civilization. The interviewer closes by thanking the Prime Minister.