Prime Minister Tony Blair Feels the Response to the September 11 Attacks is a “Great Challenge That Lies Ahead of Us”
He pledges to America's former Ambassador that England will work "closely with President Bush in facing it".
The events of September 11, 2001 saw the first planned foreign attack against the American homeland since Pearl Harbor, more than a half-century before. As Americans waited for a possible subsequent attack and came to grips with a new reality, one in which they were less secure, an alliance forged by decades...
The events of September 11, 2001 saw the first planned foreign attack against the American homeland since Pearl Harbor, more than a half-century before. As Americans waited for a possible subsequent attack and came to grips with a new reality, one in which they were less secure, an alliance forged by decades of allegiance and exemplified by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill came to the forefront: that between the United States, now led by President George W. Bush, and the United Kingdom, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair. The events of that day also inaugurated a world-wide coordinated effort to combat terrorists and terrorism.
Tony Blair was a member of Parliament and in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when Ronald Reagan was in office. In that capacity he met with and got to know the United States Ambassador to Great Britain, Charles Price.
The post of US Ambassador to Great Britain was, and likely remains, the most prestigious ambassadorship in the gift of the President. For the last six of his eight year term, Reagan’s man in London was Charles H. Price II. During his five years as ambassador, Price participated in talks between the British and the Irish Republican Army and helped Mrs. Thatcher defuse protests after the United States used British bases to carry out attacks on Libya in 1986. He also deployed his sense of humor and Midwestern humility to try easing the anti-American sentiment that Reagan’s policies had stoked among some Britons, and he hosted elaborate receptions for members of the British government and press, becoming a familiar face on television there. When a terrorist bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, killing all 259 people aboard, Price and his wife were at the scene within hours and received praise for their efforts.
On October 4,2001, Reagan National Airport opened with limited service for the first time since the attacks. Pakistan announced that it had evidence against Osama Bin Laden strong enough to condemn him for the attack. And Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke in front of the House of Commons to promise that incontrovertible evidence of Bin Laden’s guilt would be presented. The next day, hearing this, Ambassador Price wrote to Blair.
Typed letter signed, October 5, 2001, to Tony Blair. “Dear Prime Minister, It was my great honor and privilege to have served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland during the period of 1983 until our departure in 1989. Obviously this period was far less complicated than that which we confront today. Importantly, I wished to express to you my appreciation for how emphatically you expressed your nations resolve to support President Bush’s determination to deal with the events of September 11 and the threat that terrorism represents to the freedom of our democracies. It has always been my view that the United States has never enjoyed a more loyal and steadfast ally than Great Britain. I believe I express the admiration and thanks for all Americans for your support in the face of the great challenge that lies ahead. With my gratitude, respect and warm wishes, Charles H. Price II.”
Blair responded 10 days later in this letter, in which he mentions President Bush in promising to stand with America, and characterizing the War on Terror as the “great challenge that lies ahead.”
Typed letter signed, on 10 Downing Street Prime Minister’s letterhead, October 15, 2001, to Ambassador Price. “Dear Mr. Price, Thank you so much for your letter of 5 October. I recall you as an extremely distinguished Ambassador here in London. I am extremely grateful to you for your kind words about the position we have taken. As you say, it is a great challenge that lies ahead of us, and we will be co-operating closely with President Bush in facing it.”
An important letter of Blair as Prime Minister, the first we have carried.
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