November 21, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 25, 1424

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LONDON, Nov 20: US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday vowed no let-up in the “war on terror” and denied their occupation of Iraq had sparked the devastating attacks on British targets in Turkey.

As around 100,000 anti-war protesters swarmed through London and brought an effigy of the president crashing to the ground in Trafalgar Square, talks between the two leaders focused on the latest suspected Al Qaeda attacks.

The Istanbul attacks did little to dampen the anti-war protests, and many marchers said they made the demonstration all the more necessary.

“The terrorist attacks are exactly the sort of thing we predicted would happen if they went into Iraq. They’ve proved us right,” said film-maker Martin Smith, 64.

“US policies create more terrorism,” said Jamal Kamamgar, a 28-year-old Iraqi living in London. “Before the invasion, Iraq was a secular country. Now religion is growing because of US humiliation.”

But Mr Blair insisted: “What has caused the terrorist attack today in Turkey is not the president of the United States. It’s not the alliance between America and Britain.”

President Bush said the Turkish attacks only strengthened his resolve.

“Great Britain and America and other free nations are united today in our grief and united in our determination to fight and defeat this evil wherever it is found,” he said.

“Our mission in Iraq is noble and it is necessary, and no act of thugs or killers will change our resolve or alter their fate. We will finish the job we have begun.”

Mr Blair, whose popularity has slid at home over his support for the invasion, said: “Once again we must affirm that in the face of this terrorism there must be no holding back, no compromise.”

The image of Mr Bush and Mr Blair side-by-side, vowing to stay the course in the face of devastating attacks, further cemented a bond that has not wavered since the prime minister vowed to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the United States in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks.

The Istanbul attacks overshadowed political talks that left the British prime minister again open to criticism that his unflagging support for Mr Bush has won few benefits for Britain.

Mr Blair failed to win breakthroughs on the two most contentious issues — the treatment of British detainees at the US prison colony at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and US tariffs on steel that the World Trade Organization has ruled illegal.

Mr Bush was due to visit Mr Blair’s constituency in rural northern England on Friday before flying home.

The president’s wife Laura said the trip had gone well and the protests against her husband had been smaller than expected.

“We’ve seen plenty of American flags. We’ve seen plenty of people waving to us — many many more people in fact than protesters — who were very welcoming to us here and I appreciate that,” she said.

TROOPS FOR IRAQ: The president and the premier were to have concentrated during their talks on Thursday on the way forward in Iraq, including prospects for a transfer of sovereignty in June to its governing council.

But at the Foreign Office press conference, Mr Bush held out the possibility that US troop levels in Iraq could rise in the face of ongoing deadly attacks on US, British and other occupation forces.

“We’ll match the security needs with the number of troops necessary to secure Iraq,” he said.

“We could have less troops in Iraq. We could have the same number of troops in Iraq. We could have more troops in Iraq. Whatever is necessary to secure Iraq.”

There now are 130,000 US soldiers in Iraq, plus 10,000 from Britain. The Pentagon has said it would like the US deployment lowered to 105,000 by the second quarter of next year as more Iraqi troops complete training.

Bush, who paid an official visit to London in July 2001, was invited 17 months ago to return for a formal state visit. That was after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington. —Reuters/AFP