Bush warns Taliban again, opens Reagan National Airport

Published 9:00 pm Monday, October 1, 2001

By Ron Fournier

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Tuesday that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban will suffer certain consequences for the Sept. 11 attacks on America unless it meets his demands that it turn over Osama bin Laden and his followers. “There is no timetable … there are no negotiations,” he warned.

Bush also said he would announce the reopening of Reagan National Airport later in the day.

It is the only commercial airport to remain closed after the suicide hijacking attacks three weeks ago. Despite its close proximity to the White House and other national landmarks, “We need to get back to business,” Bush said.

Bush’s toughly worded warning to the Taliban, made at a White House meeting with congressional leaders of both parties, was matched on the other side of the Atlantic by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The Taliban must “surrender the terrorists or surrender power,” Blair said in a speech to his Labor Party in Brighton, England. “This is a battle with only one outcome. Our victory, not theirs,” Blair said.

Blair, like Bush, gave no indication of when military action might start. But, he said, “Whatever the dangers of action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater.”

Three weeks after hijacked commercial airliners smashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field, Western leaders were focusing increasingly on the Taliban, the militant Islamic organization that controls most of Afghanistan and which has harbored bin Laden.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the alliance’s secretary general, Lord Robertson, said the United States presented “clear and compelling evidence” tying bin Laden and his al-Qaida organization to the terror attacks.

“It is clear that all roads lead to al-Qaida and pinpoint Osama bin Laden as having been involved in it,” Robertson said Tuesday after a classified briefing given to NATO’s ruling council by U.S. Ambassador at Large Francis X. Taylor.

In Washington, Bush met with congressional leaders to discuss legislation to spur the ailing U.S. economy. The meeting came hours before the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, was expected to reduce interest rates for the ninth time this year to prod the economy.

“I have said that the Taliban must turn over the al-Qaida organization living in Afghanistan and must destroy the terrorist camps. They must do so, otherwise there will be a consequence,” Bush said. “There are no negotiations. There is no calendar.”

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., emerged from the meeting with Bush carrying a message of his own for the Taliban: “I think the time’s running short.”

Three weeks after the deadly attacks on New York and Washington, Bush said America is still vulnerable.

“I say America needs to be on alert, but we’ve got to get back to business. Americans know their government is doing everything it can,” Bush said during the Oval Office session. “We’re on full alert in America.”

The president announced that he would reopen Reagan National Airport, the only commercial airport still closed after the Sept. 11 attacks. Increased security will accompany the reopening.

Bush and the leaders discussed plans to revive the sagging U.S. economy. The president wants to cut taxes of individuals and businesses. He is open to Democratic demands to raise the minimum wage, increase job training and ensure health insurance and unemployment benefits to laid-off workers.

“There is agreement that we’ve got to come together with a vision about how big the package ought to be to make sure we affect the economy in the short run in a positive way, but don’t affect it in the long run in a negative way,” Bush said.

In a brief question-and-answer session, the president also said the idea of a Palestinian state has always been part of the peace process “so long as the right to an Israeli state if respected.” He said some progress has been made toward peace in the Middle East.

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